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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3be63b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #66350 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66350) diff --git a/old/66350-0.txt b/old/66350-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1c38bfd..0000000 --- a/old/66350-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9537 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Remains of Hesiod the Ascræan, by -Charles Abraham Elton - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Remains of Hesiod the Ascræan - Including the Shield of Hercules - -Author: Charles Abraham Elton - -Release Date: September 20, 2021 [eBook #66350] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Sonya Schermann and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REMAINS OF HESIOD THE -ASCRÆAN *** - - - - - -THE REMAINS OF HESIOD THE ASCRÆAN - - - - - THE REMAINS - OF - HESIOD THE ASCRÆAN - INCLUDING - The Shield of Hercules, - _TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH RHYME AND BLANK VERSE_; - WITH - A DISSERTATION - ON THE - LIFE AND ÆRA, THE POEMS AND MYTHOLOGY, - OF - HESIOD, - _AND COPIOUS NOTES_. - - THE SECOND EDITION, - _REVISED AND ENLARGED_ - - BY - CHARLES ABRAHAM ELTON, - AUTHOR OF SPECIMENS OF THE CLASSIC POETS FROM HOMER TO TRYPHIODORUS. - - Ὡ πρέσβυς καθαρῶν γευσάμενος λιβάδον.—ΑΛΚΑΙΟΣ. - - _LONDON_: - PRINTED FOR BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY, - 47 PATERNOSTER-ROW. - 1815. - - C. Baldwin, Printer, - New Bridge street, London. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -The remains of Hesiod are not alone interesting to the antiquary, as -tracing a picture of the rude arts and manners of the ancient Greeks. -His sublime philosophic allegories; his elevated views of a retributive -Providence; and the romantic elegance, or daring grandeur, with which he -has invested the legends of his mythology, offer more solid reasons than -the accident of coeval existence for the traditional association of his -name with that of Homer. - -Hesiod has been translated in Latin hexameters by Nicolaus Valla, and -by Bernardo Zamagna. A French translation by Jacques le Gras bears date -1586. The earliest essay on his poems by our own countrymen appears in -the old racy version of “The Works and Days,” by George Chapman, the -translator of Homer, published in 1618. It is so scarce that Warton in -“The History of English Poetry” doubts its existence. Some specimens of a -work equally curious from its rareness, and interesting as an example of -our ancient poetry, are appended to this translation. Parnell has given -a sprightly imitation of the Pandora, under the title of “Hesiod, or the -Rise of Woman:” and Broome, the coadjutor of Pope in the Odyssey, has -paraphrased the battle of the Titans and the Tartarus.[1] The translation -by Thomas Cooke omits the splendid heroical fragment of “The Shield,” -which I have restored to its legitimate connexion. It was first published -in 1728; reprinted in 1740; and has been inserted in the collections of -Anderson and Chalmers. - -This translator obtained from his contemporaries the name of “Hesiod -Cooke.” He was thought a good Grecian; and translated against Pope the -episode of Thersites, in the Iliad, with some success; which procured -him a place in the Dunciad: - - Be thine, my stationer, this magic gift, - Cooke shall be Prior, and Concanen Swift: - -and a passage in “The Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot” seems pointed more -directly at the affront of the Thersites: - - From these the world shall judge of men and books, - Not from the Burnets, Oldmixons, and Cookes. - -Satire, however, is not evidence: and neither these distichs, nor the -sour notes of Pope’s obsequious commentator, are sufficient to prove, -that Cooke, any more than Theobald and many others, deserved, either as -an author or a man, to be ranked with dunces. A biographical account -of him, with extracts from his common-place books, was communicated -by Sir Joseph Mawby to the Gentleman’s Magazine: vol. 61, 62. His -edition of Andrew Marvell’s works procured him the patronage of the -Earl of Pembroke: he was also a writer in the Craftsman. Johnson has -told (Boswell’s Tour to the Hebrides, p. 25.) that “Cooke lived twenty -years on a translation of Plautus: for which he was always taking -subscriptions.” The Amphitryon was, however, actually published. - -With respect to Hesiod, either Cooke’s knowledge of Greek was in -reality superficial, or his indolence counteracted his abilities; for -his blunders are inexcusably frequent and unaccountably gross: not in -matters of mere verbal nicety, but in several important particulars: nor -are these instances, which tend so perpetually to mislead the reader, -compensated by the force or beauty of his style; which, notwithstanding -some few unaffected and emphatical lines, is, in its general effect, tame -and grovelling. These errors I had thought it necessary to point out in -the notes to my first edition; as a justification of my own attempt to -supply what I considered as still a desideratum in our literature. The -criticisms are now rescinded; as their object has been misconstrued into -a design of raising myself by depreciating my predecessor. - -Some remarks of the different writers in the reviews appear to call for -reply. - -The Edinburgh Reviewer objects, as an instance of defective translation, -to my version of αιδως ουκ’ αγαυη: which he says is improperly rendered -“shame”: “whereas it rather means that diffidence and want of enterprise -which unfits men from improving their fortune. In this sense it is -opposed by Hesiod to θαρσος, an active and courageous spirit.” - -But the Edinburgh Reviewer is certainly mistaken. If αιδως is to be taken -in this limited sense, what can be the meaning of the line - - Αιδως η τ’ ανδρας μεγα σινεται ηδ’ ονινησι. - - Shame greatly hurts or greatly helps mankind? - -the proper antithesis is the αιδως αγαθη, alluded to in a subsequent line, - - Αιδω δε τ’ αναιδειη κατοπαζη. - - And shamelessness expels the better shame. - -The good shame, which deters men from mean actions, as the evil one -depresses them from honest enterprise. - -In my dissertation I had ventured to call in question the judgment of -commentators in exalting their favourite author: and had doubted whether -the meek forgiving temper of Hesiod towards his brother, whom he seldom -honours with any better title than “fool,” was very happily chosen as a -theme for admiration. On this the _old_ Critical Reviewer exclaimed “as -if that, and various other gentle expressions, for example _blockhead_, -_goose-cap_, _dunderhead_, were not frequently terms of endearment:” and -he added his suspicion that “like poor old Lear, I did not know the -difference between a bitter fool and a sweet one.” - -But, as the clown in Hamlet says, “’twill away from me to you.” The -critic is bound to prove, 1st, that νηπις is ever used in this playful -sense; which he has not attempted to do: 2dly, that it is so used with -the aggravating prefix of ΜΕΓΑ νηπιε: 3dly, that it is so used by Hesiod. - -Hector’s babe on the nurse’s bosom is described as νηπιος; and Patroclus -weeping is compared by Achilles to κουρη νηπιη. These words may bear the -senses of “poor innocent;” and of “fond girl;” the former is tender, the -latter playful; but in both places the word is usually understood in its -primitive sense of “infant.” Homer says of Andromache preparing a bath -for Hector, - - Νηπιη! ουδ’ ενοησεν ο μιν μαλα τηλε λοετων - Χερσιν Αχιλληος δαμασεν γλαυκωπις Αθηνη: - - Il. xxii. - - Fond one! she knew not that the blue-eyed maid - Had quell’d him, far from the refreshing bath, - Beneath Achilles’ hand. - -But this is in commiseration: or would the critic apply to Andromache -the epithet of _goose-cap_? After all, who in his senses would dream -of singling out a word from an author’s context, and delving in other -authors for a meaning? The question is, not how it is used by other -authors, but how it is used by Hesiod. Till the Critic favours us with -some proofs of Hesiod’s namby-pamby tenderness towards the brother who -had cheated him of his patrimony, I beg to return both the quotation and -the _appellatives_ upon his hands.[2] - -The London Reviewer censures my choice of blank-verse as a medium for -the ancient hexameter, on the ground that the closing adonic is more -fully represented by the rounding rhyme of the couplet: but it may be -urged, that the flowing pause and continuous period of the Homeric verse -are more consonant with our blank measure. In confining the latter to -dramatic poetry, as partaking of the character of the Greek Iambics, he -has overlooked the visible distinction of structure in our dramatic and -heroic blank verse. With respect to the particular poem, I am disposed -to concede that the general details of the Theogony might be improved -by rhyme: but the more interesting passages are not to be sacrificed to -those which cannot interest, be they versified how they may: and as the -critic seems to admit that a poem whose action passes - - “Beyond the flaming bounds of time and space” - -may be fitly clothed with blank numbers, by this admission he gives up -the argument as it affects the Theogony. - -In disapproving of my illustration of Hesiod by the Bryantian scheme of -mythology, the London Reviewer refers me for a refutation of this system -to Professor Richardson’s preface to his Arabic Dictionary; where certain -etymological combinations and derivations are contested, which Mr. Bryant -produces as authorities in support of the adoration of the Sun or of -Fire. Mr. Richardson, however, premises by acknowledging “the penetration -and judgement of the author of the Analytic System in the refutation of -vulgar errors, with the new and informing light in which he has placed -a variety of ancient facts:” and however formidable the professor’s -criticisms may be in this his peculiar province, it must be remarked -that a great part of “The New System” rests on grounds independent of -etymology; and is supported by a mass of curious evidence collected from -the history, the rites, and monuments of ancient nations: nor can I -look upon the judgment of that critic as infallible, who conceives the -suspicious silence of the Persic historians sufficient to set aside the -venerable testimony of Herodotus, and the proud memorials and patriotic -traditions of the free people of Greece: and who resolves the invasion of -Xerxes into the petty piratical inroad of a Persian Satrap. I conceive, -also, with respect to the point in dispute, that the professor’s -confutation of certain etymological positions is completely weakened in -its intended general effect, by his scepticism as to the universality of -a diluvian tradition. If we admit that the periodical overflowings of the -Nile might have given rise to superstitious observances and processions -in Ægypt; and even that the sudden inundations of the Euphrates and -the Tigris might have caused the institution of similar memorials in -Babylonia, how are we to account for Greece, and India, and America, -each visited by a destructive inundation, and each perpetuating its -remembrance by poetical legends or emblematical sculptures? Surely a most -incredible supposition. Nor is this all; for we find an agreement not -merely of a flood, but of persons preserved from a flood; and preserved -in a remarkable manner; by inclosure in a vessel, or the hollow trunk -of a tree. How is it possible to solve coincidences of so minute and -specific a nature[3] by casual inundations, with Mr. Richardson, or, with -Dr. Gillies, by the natural proneness of the human mind to the weaknesses -and terrors of superstition? - -As to my choice of the Analytic System for the purpose of illustrating -Hesiod, I am not convinced by the argument either of the London or the -Edinburgh Reviewer, that it is a system too extensive to serve for the -illustration of a single author, or that my task was necessarily confined -to literal explanation of the received mythology. In this single author -are concentrated the several heathen legends and heroical fables, and -the whole of that popular theology which the author of the New System -professed to analyse. Tzetzes, in his scholia upon Hesiod, interpreted -the theogonic traditions by the phenomena of nature and the operations of -the elements: Le Clerc by the hidden sense which he traced from Phœnician -primitives: and to these Cooke, in his notes, added the moral apologues -of Lord Bacon. In departing, therefore, from the beaten track of the -school-boy’s Pantheon, I have only exercised the same freedom which other -commentators and translators have assumed before me. - - _Clifton, October, 1815._ - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] A blank-verse translation of the Battle of the Titans may be found in -Bryant’s “Analysis:” and one of the descriptive part of “The Shield” in -the “Exeter Essays.” Isaac Ritson translated the Theogony; but the work -has remained in MS. - -[2] The untimely death of the writer unfortunately precludes me from -offering my particular acknowledgments to the translator of Aristotle’s -Poetics, for the large and liberal praise which he has bestowed upon my -work in the second number of The London Review: a journal established on -the plan of a more manly system of criticism by the respectable essayist, -whose translations from the Greek comedy first drew the public attention -to the unjustly vilified Aristophanes. - -[3] “Paintings representing the deluge of Tezpi are found among the -different nations that inhabit Mexico. He saved himself conjointly -with his wife, children, and several animals, on a raft. The painting -represents him in the midst of the water lying in a bark. The mountain, -the summit of which, crowned by a tree, rises above the waters, is the -peak of Colhuacan, the Ararat of the Mexicans. The men born after the -deluge were dumb: a dove, from the top of the tree distributes among them -tongues. When the great Spirit ordered the waters to withdraw, Tezpi -sent out a vulture. This bird did not return on account of the number of -carcases, with which the earth, newly dried up, was strewn. He sent out -other birds; one of which, the humming-bird, alone returned, holding in -its beak a branch covered with leaves.—Ought we not to acknowledge the -traces of a common origin, wherever cosmogonical ideas, and the first -traditions of nations, offer striking analogies, even in the minutest -circumstances? Does not the humming-bird of Tezpi remind us of Noah’s -dove; that of Deucalion, and the birds, which, according to Berosus, -Xisuthrus sent out from his ark, to see whether the waters were run off, -and whether he might erect altars to the tutelary deities of Chaldæa?” -HUMBOLDT’S RESEARCHES, concerning the Institutions and Monuments of -ancient America: translated by HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS. - - - - -DISSERTATION ON THE LIFE AND ÆRA OF HESIOD, HIS POEMS, AND MYTHOLOGY. - - - - -SECTION I. - -ON THE LIFE OF HESIOD. - - -It is remarked by Velleius Paterculus (Hist. lib. i.) that “Hesiod -had avoided the negligence into which Homer fell, by attesting both -his country and his parents: but that of his country he had made most -reproachful mention; on account of the fine which she had imposed on -him.” There are sufficient coincidences in the poems of Hesiod, now -extant, to explain the grounds of this assertion of Paterculus; but the -statement is loose and incorrect. - -As to the mention of his country, if by country we are to suppose the -place of his birth, it can only be understood by implication, and that -not with certainty. Hesiod indeed relates that his father migrated from -Cuma in Æolia, to Ascra, a Bœotian village at the foot of mount Helicon; -but we are left to conjecture whether he himself was born at Cuma or at -Ascra. His affirmation that he had never embarked in a ship but once, -when he sailed across the Euripus to the Isle of Eubœa on occasion of a -poetical contest, has been thought decisive of his having been born at -Ascra; but the poet is speaking of his nautical experience: and even if -he had originally come from Cuma, he would scarcely mention a voyage made -in infancy. The observation respecting his parents tends to countenance -the reading of Διου γενος; race of Dius; instead of διον γενος, race -divine; but the name of one parent only is found. The reproachful mention -of his country plainly alludes to his charge of corruption against the -petty kings or nobles, who exercised the magistracy of Bœotia: and by the -fine is meant the judicial award of the larger share of the patrimony to -his brother. - -There seems a great probability that Virgil, in his fourth eclogue, had -Hesiod’s golden and heroic ages in view; and that he alludes to the -passage of Justice leaving the earth, where he says - - The virgin now returns: Saturnian times - Roll round again: - -and to Hesiod himself in the verse, - - The last age dawns, in verse Cumæan sung:[4] - -and not, as is commonly thought, to the Sibyl of Campanian Cuma. -Professor Heyne objects, that Hesiod makes no mention of the revolution -of a better age: yet such an allusion is significantly conveyed in the -following passage: - - Oh would that Nature had denied me birth - Midst this fifth race, this iron age of earth; - That long before within the grave I lay, - Or long hereafter could behold the day! - -That Virgil elsewhere calls Hesiod’s verse Ascræan is no argument against -his supposing him of Cuma: there seems no reason why either epithet -should not be used: for the poet was at least of Cumæan extraction. That -Ascræus was Hesiod’s received surname among the ancients proves nothing -as to his birth-place, nor is any thing proved as to Virgil’s opinion by -his adoption of the title in compliance with common usage. Apollonius was -surnamed Rhodius from his residence at Rhodes, yet his birth-place was -Ægypt. After all, nothing is established, even if it could be certified -that Virgil thought him of Cuma, beyond the single weight of Virgil’s -individual opinion. Plutarch relates, from a more ancient and therefore -a more competent authority, that of Ephorus, the Cumæan historian, that -Dius was the youngest of three brothers, and emigrated through distress -of debt to Ascra; where he married Pycimede, the mother of Hesiod. - -If we allow the authenticity of the proem to the Theogony, Hesiod tended -sheep in the vallies of Helicon; for it is not in the spirit of ancient -poetry to feign this sort of circumstance; and no education could be -conceived more natural for a bard who sang of husbandry. From the fiction -of the Muses presenting him with a laurel-bough, we may infer also that -he was not a minstrel or harper, but a rhapsodist; and sang or recited -to the branch instead of the lyre. La Harpe, in his Lycée, _ou Cours -de Littérature_, asserts that Hesiod was a priest of the temple of the -Muses. I find the same account in Gale’s Court of the Gentiles; book -iii. p. 7. vol. i. who quotes Carion’s Chronicle of Memorable Events. -For this, however, I can find no ancient authority. On referring to -Pausanias, he mentions, indeed, that the statue of Hesiod was placed -in the temple of the Muses on Mount Helicon: and in the Works and Days -Hesiod mentions having dedicated to the Muses of Helicon the tripod which -he won in the Eubœan contest; and observes - - Th’ inspiring Muses to my lips have giv’n - The love of song, and strains that breathe of heaven. - -From the conjunction of this passage with the account of Pausanias, has -probably arisen a confused supposition that Hesiod was actually a priest -of the Heliconian temple. The circumstance, although destitute of express -evidence, is however probable, from his acquaintance with theogonical -traditions and his tone of religious instruction. - -Guietus rejects the whole passage as supposititious, which respects -the voyage to Eubœa, and the contest in poetry at the funeral games of -Amphidamas. Proclus supposes Plutarch to have also rejected it: because -he speaks of the contest as τα εωλα πραγματα: which some interpret trite -or threadbare tales: others old wives’ stories. But if the latter sense -be the correct one, Plutarch may have meant to intimate his disbelief -only of Hesiod and Homer having contended; not altogether of a contest -in which Hesiod took part. In fact it seems reasonable to infer the -authenticity of the passage from this very tradition of Homer and Hesiod -having disputed a prize in poetry. - -In the pseudo-history entitled “The Contest of Homer and Hesiod,” is an -inscription purporting to be that on the tripod which Hesiod won from -Homer in Eubœa: - - This Hesiod vow’d to Helicon’s blest nine, - Victor in Chalcis crown’d o’er Homer, bard divine. - -Now that the passage in “The Works” was extant long before this piece -was in existence, is susceptible of easy proof: but if we conceive with -the credulity of Barnes, that the piece is a collection of scattered -traditionary matter of genuine antiquity, that the passage was not -constructed on the narration may be inferred from the former wanting -the name of Homer. The nullity of purpose in such a forgery seems to -have struck those, who in the indulgence of the same fanciful whim have -substituted, as Proclus states, for the usual reading in the text of -Hesiod, - - Υμνω νικησαντα φερειν τριποδ’ ωτωεντα, - - I bore a tripod ear’d, my prize, away: - - Υμνω νικησαντ’ εν χαλκιδι θειον Ομηρον, - - Victor in Chalcis crown’d o’er Homer, bard divine: - -the identical verse in the pretended inscription. It is incredible that -any person should take the trouble of foisting lines into Hesiod’s poem, -for the barren object of inducing a belief that he had won a poetical -prize from some unknown and nameless bard: unless we were to presume -that the forger omitted the name through a refinement of artifice, that -no suspicion may be excited by its too minute coincidence with the -traditionary story: but it is a perfectly natural circumstance that the -passage in Hesiod, describing a contest with some unknown bard, should -have furnished the basis of a meeting between Hesiod and Homer: and the -tradition is at once explained by the coincidence of this passage in “The -Works,” and an invocation in the “Hymn to Venus;” where Homer exclaims on -the eve of one of these bardic festivals, - - Oh in this contest let me bear away - The palm of song: do thou prepare my lay! - -The piece entitled “The Contest of Homer and Hesiod,” is entitled to -no authority. It is not credible that a composition of this nature, -consisting of enigmas with their solutions, and of lines of imperfect -sense which are completed by the alternate verses of the answerer, should -have been preserved by the oral tradition of ages like complete poems: -and the foolish genealogies, whereby Homer and Hesiod are traced to Gods, -Muses, and Rivers, and are made cousins, according to the favourite zeal -of the Greeks for finding out a consanguinity in poets, diminish all the -credit of the writer as a sober historian. - -It appears probable that the whole piece was suggested by the hint of -the contest in Plutarch: who quotes it in his “Banquet of Sages,” as an -example of the ancient contests in poetry. He says Homer proposed this -enigma: - - Rehearse, O Muse! the things that ne’er have been, - Nor e’er shall in the future time be seen: - -which Hesiod answered in a manner no less enigmatical: - - When round Jove’s tomb the clashing cars shall roll - The trampling coursers straining for the goal - -The same verses, with a few changes, are given in “The Contest;” only -the question is assigned to Hesiod, and the answer to Homer; as Robinson -conjectures, with perhaps too much refinement, for the secret purpose of -depressing Hesiod under the mask of exalting him, by appointing Homer to -the more arduous task of solving the questions proposed. With respect -also to the award of Panœdes, the judge, which is thought to betray the -same design by an imbecile or partial preference of the verses of Hesiod -to those of Homer, the reason stated by Panœdes, that “it was just to -bestow the prize on him who exhorted men to agriculture and peace, in -preference to him who described only war and carnage” is equally noble -and philosophical; and by no means merits to have given rise to the -proverbial parody quoted by Barnes: Πανιδος ψηφος “the judgment of Pan:” -instead of Πανοιδου ψηφος, “the judgment of Panœdes.” - -The piece seems to be a mere exercise of ingenuity, without any -particular design of raising one poet at the expence of the other: and -as it contains internal evidence of having been composed after the time -of Adrian, who is mentioned by name as “that most divine Emperor,” and -Plutarch flourished under Trajan, there is reason to suppose that the -narrative of Periander in the “Banquet of Wise Men,” afforded the first -hint of the whole contest. - -To the same zeal for making Hesiod and Homer competitors we owe another -inscription, quoted by Eustathius, ad Il. A. p. 5. - - In Delos first did I with Homer raise - The rhapsody of bards; and new the lays: - Phœbus Apollo did our numbers sing; - Latona’s son, the golden-sworded king. - -But if the passage in “The Works” be authentic, the spuriousness of this -inscriptive record detects itself; as Hesiod there confines his voyages -to the crossing the Euripus. - -Pausanias mentions the institution of a contest at the temple in Delphos, -where a hymn was to be sung in honour of Apollo: and says that Hesiod -was excluded from the number of the candidates because he had not learnt -to sing to the harp. He adds, that Homer came thither also; and was -incapacitated from trying his skill by the same deficiency: and, what is -very strange, he gives as a reason why he could not have taken a part in -the contest, even were he a harper, that he was blind. - -From Plutarch, Pausanias, and the author of “The Contest,” we are enabled -to cull some gossiping traditions of the latter life of Hesiod, which are -scarcely worth the gleaning, except that, like the romancing Lives of -Homer, they are proofs of the poet’s celebrity. - -Hesiod, we are told, set out on a pilgrimage to the Delphic Oracle, for -the purpose of hearing his fortune: and the old bard could scarcely get -in at the gates of the temple, when the prophetess could refrain no -longer: “_afflata est numine quando jam propriore Dei_:” - - Blest is the man who treads this hallow’d ground, - With honours by th’ immortal Muses crown’d: - The bard whose glory beams divinely bright - Far as the morning sheds her ambient light: - But shun the shades of fam’d Nemean Jove; - Thy mortal end awaits thee in the grove. - -But after all her sweet words, the priestess was but a jilting gypsey; -and meant only to shuffle with the ambiguity of her trade. The old -gentleman carefully turning aside from the Peloponnesian Nemea, fell into -the trap of a temple of the Nemean Jupiter at Ænoe, a town of Locris. -He was here entertained by one Ganyctor; together with a Milesian, his -fellow-traveller, and a youth called Troilus. During the night this -Milesian violated the daughter of their host, by name Ctemene: and the -grey hairs of Hesiod, who we are told was an old man twice over,[5] and -whose name grew into a proverb for longevity, could not save him from -being suspected of the deed by the young lady’s brothers, Ctemenus -and Antiphus: they without much ceremony murdered him in the fields, -and “to leave no botches in the work,” killed the poor boy into the -bargain. The Milesian, we are to suppose, escaped under the cloud of his -miraculous security, free from gashes and from question. The body of -Hesiod was thrown into the sea; and a dolphin,[6] or a whole shoal of -them, according to another account, conveyed it to a part of the coast, -where the festival of Neptune was celebrating: and the murderers, having -confessed, were drowned in the waves. Plutarch (_de solertiâ animalium_) -states that the corpse of Hesiod was discovered through the sagacity of -his dog. - -The body of a murdered poet, however, was not to rest quiet without -effecting some further extraordinary prodigies. The inhabitants of -Orchomenos, in Bœotia, having consulted the oracle on occasion of a -pestilence, were answered that, as their only remedy, they must seek -the bones of Hesiod; and that a crow would direct them. The messengers -accordingly found a crow sitting on a rock; in the cavity of which they -discovered the poet’s remains; transported them to their own country, and -erected a tomb with this epitaph: - - The fallow vales of Ascra gave him birth: - His bones are cover’d by the Mingan earth: - Supreme in Hellas Hesiod’s glories rise, - Whom men discern by wisdom’s touchstone wise. - -Among the Greek Inscriptions is an epitaph on Hesiod with the name of -Alcæus, which has the air of being a genuine ancient production, from its -breathing the beautiful classic simplicity of the old Grecian school: - - Nymphs in their founts midst Locris’ woodland gloom - Laved Hesiod’s corse and piled his grassy tomb: - The shepherds there the yellow honey shed, - And milk of goats was sprinkled o’er his head: - With voice so sweetly breathed that sage would sing, - Who sip’d pure drops from every Muse’s spring. - -Some mention Ctemene, or Clymene, on whose account Hesiod is said to have -been murdered, as the name of his wife: others call her Archiepe; and he -is supposed to have had by her a son named Stesichorus. In “The Works” is -this passage: - - Then may not I, nor yet my son remain - In this our generation just in vain: - -which, unless it be only a figure of speech, confirms the fact of his -having a son. - -Pausanias describes a brazen statue of Hesiod in the forum of the -city Thespia, in Bœotia; another in the temple of Jupiter Olympicus, -at Olympia in Elis; and a third in the temple of the Muses, on Mount -Helicon, in a sitting posture, with a harp resting on his knees; a -circumstance which he rather formally criticises, on the ground that -Hesiod recited with the laurel-branch. - -A brazen statue of Hesiod stood also in the baths of Zeuxippus, which -formed a part of old Byzantium, and retained the same title, an epithet -of Jupiter, under the Christian Emperors of Constantinople. (See Gibbon’s -Roman Empire, ii. 17; Dallaway’s Constantinople, p. 110.) Constantine -adorned the baths with statues, and for these Christodorus wrote -inscriptions. That on the statue of Hesiod is quoted by Fulvius Ursinus, -from the Greek Epigrams: - - Midst mountain nymphs in brass th’ Ascræan stood, - Uttering the heaven-breathed song in his infuriate mood. - -The collections of antiquities by Fulvius Ursinus, Gronovius, and -Bellorius exhibit a gem, a busto and a basso-relievo, together with -a truncated _herma_; which the ingenious artist who designed the -frontispiece to this edition has united with one of the heads. The -bust in the Pembroke collection differs from all these. In fact the -sculptures, whether of Hesiod or Homer, are only interesting as -antiquities of art; for the likenesses assigned to eminent poets by the -Grecian artists were mostly imaginary:[7] and must evidently have been so -in such ancient instances as these. - -Greece, at an early period, seems to have possessed a spirit of just -legislation, which formed in the very bosom of polytheism a certain -code of practical religion: and from the semi-barbarous age of Orpheus, -down to the times of a Solon, a Plato, and a Pindar, Providence -continued to raise up moral instructors of mankind, in the persons of -bards, or legislators, or philosophers, who by their conceptions of -a righteous governor of the universe, and their maxims of social duty -and natural piety, counteracted the degrading influence of superstition -on the manners of the people: and sowed the germs of that domestic and -public virtue which so long upheld in power and prosperity the sister -communities of Greece. The same spirit pervades the writings of Hesiod. - -It is evident even in the times that have passed since the gospel light -was shed abroad among the nations, that a perverted system of theology -may perfectly consist with a pure practical religion: that scholastic -subtleties, unscriptural traditions, and uncharitable dogmas, may -constitute the creed, while the religion of primitive Christianity -influences the heart. So, in estimating the character of Hesiod, we must -separate those superstitions which belong to a traditionary mythology, -from that system of opinions which respected the guidance of human life; -the accountableness of nations and individuals to a heavenly judge; and -the principles of public equity and popular justice which he derived -from the national institutions. If we examine his poems in this view of -their tendency and spirit, we shall find abundant cause for admiration -and respect of a man, who, born and nurtured upon the lap of heathen -superstition, could shadow out the maxims of truth in such beautiful -allegories, and recommend the practice of virtue in such powerful and -affecting appeals to the conscience and the reason. - -They, however, who can feel the infinite superiority of Christianity -over every system of philosophic morals, will naturally expect that the -morality of Hesiod should come short of that point of purity, which -he, who reads our nature, proposed through the revealer of his will -as a standard for the emulation of his creatures. But in the zeal of -commenting upon an adopted author, we find that every thing equivocal -has been strained to some unobjectionable sense; we are presented with -Christian graces for heathen virtues; and Hesiod is not permitted to -be absurd even in his superstitions; which are thought to involve -some refined emblematical meaning; some lesson of ethical wisdom or of -economical prudence. - -The similitude of patriarch and prophet, with whom he is compared by -Robinson, is not a very exaggerated comparison, in so far as respects the -simplicity of an ancient husbandman, laying down rules for the general -œconomy of life; or the graver functions of a philosopher, denouncing the -visitations of divine justice on nations and their legislators, greedy -of the gains of corruption. But the learned editor is unfortunate in -selecting for his praise the meek and placable disposition of Hesiod as -completing the patriarchal character. The indignation which Hesiod felt -at the injuries done him by a brother, and the venality of his judges, -might reasonably excuse the bitterness of rebuke: but he should not be -held up as a model of equanimity and forbearance. To this graceless -brother he seldom ever addresses himself in any gentler terms than μεγα -νηπιε, _greatly foolish_: and I question whether Perses, if he could rise -from the dead, would confess himself very grateful for the tenderness of -this reprehension. - -The adverse decision in the law-suit with his brother must be confessed -to be the hinge on which the alleged corruptness of his times perpetually -turns: yet as he does not conceal the personal interest which he has -in the question, his frankness wins our confidence; and simplicity and -candour are so plainly marked in his grave and artless style, that we are -insensibly led to form an exception in his favour as to the judgment of -the character from the writer; to believe his praises of frugality and -temperance sincere; and to coincide with Paterculus, in the opinion that -he was a man of a contented and philosophical mind, “fond of the leisure -and tranquillity” of rustic life. - -His countrymen, as Addison expresses it, must have regarded him “as the -oracle of the neighbourhood.” Plutarch adverts to his medical knowledge, -in the person of Cleodemus the physician; and when we consider that he -possessed sufficient astronomy for the purposes of agriculture, and that -he carried his zeal for science even into nautical details, of which, -notwithstanding, he confesses his inexperience, we shall acknowledge him -to have been a man of extraordinary attainments for the times in which he -lived. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[4] It has been a favourite theory of learned men, that Virgil had access -to Sibylline prophecies, which foretold the birth of a Saviour. How came -the Sibyls, any more than the Pythonesses of Delphos, to be ranked on a -sudden with the really inspired prophets? or is it credible that they -should have had either the curiosity, or the power, to inspect the Jewish -Scriptures? The “Sibylline Verses” were confessedly interpolated, if not -fabricated, by the pious fraud of Monks. The imitations from Isaiah seem -no less chimerical. Every description of a golden age among the poets may -be wrested into a similar parallel. Nor is it to be conceived that Virgil -would have produced so dry a copy of so luxuriant an original. This -argument does not affect the extraordinary coincidence of the time of the -appearance of this eclogue, with the epoch of the Messiah’s birth; which -is exceedingly curious. - -[5] See the epigram; which, for want of an owner, is ascribed by Tzetzes -to Pindar: - - Hail Hesiod! wisest man! who twice the bloom - Of youth hast prov’d, and twice approach’d the tomb. - -[6] The Greeks were extremely fanciful about dolphins. Several stories of -persons preserved from drowning by dolphins, and romantic tales of their -fondness for children, and their love of music, are related by Plutarch -in his “Banquet of Diocles.” - -[7] See “Specimens of ancient Sculpture,” by the society of Dilettanti. - - - - -SECTION II. - -ON THE ÆRA OF HESIOD. - - -The question of the æra when Hesiod flourished, and whether he were the -elder or the junior of Homer, or his contemporary, has given rise to -such endless disputes, that Pausanias declines giving any opinion on the -subject. Some of the moderns have attempted to ascertain the point from -internal evidence: 1st, by the character of style: 2dly, by philological -criticism: 3dly, by astronomical calculation. - -In the first instance they are unfortunately by no means agreed. Justus -Lipsius asserts that a greater simplicity and more of the rudeness of -antiquity are apparent in Hesiod: Salmasius insists that Hesiod is more -smooth and finished, and less imbued with antiquity than Homer. - -As to the argument of Heinsius respecting τεκμαιρομαι being used by Homer -in the sense of _to effect_ or _bring to pass_, and by Hesiod in that -of _to appoint_, _contrive_, or _will_; and as to the former being the -more ancient acceptation; the proof totally fails: inasmuch as Homer has -repeatedly used the word in the latter sense: and with regard to the use -of θεμιστας by Homer for law, when Hesiod uses νομους, which is asserted -not to have been known in Homer’s age, the objection is vague; unless we -suppose that Homer’s poems[8] contained every word in the language. The -argument of the celebrated Dr. Samuel Clarke, in favour of their being -of a different age, and of Hesiod being the junior, turns on the word -καλος; which in Homer is invariably made long in the first syllable; -whereas Hesiod makes it either long or short at pleasure: and on the word -οπωρινος; of which the penult is long in Homer, and short in Hesiod. But -should the argument affect their being coeval, it does not appear why -Hesiod might not be the elder: for who will be bold enough to decide -as to the most ancient quantity? nor could we possibly determine the -question, unless we were in possession of other poets, contemporary with -Homer, who should be found to conform exactly with the Homeric prosody: -in which case the disagreement of Hesiod might favour a presumption -of his belonging, at least, to a different age. The criticism seems, -however, in all respects unworthy of so acute a reasoner as Dr. Clarke: -for surely the difference of country alone might induce a difference of -prosodial usage, no less than a dissimilarity of dialect. But the most -decisive answer to all such minute criticisms appears to be, that all the -evidence afforded us on historical authority respecting the discovery, -collection, and arrangement of the poems ascribed to Homer, justifies the -presumption that their dialect, diction, and prosody have undergone[9] -such modifications and changes, as to baffle all chronological reasoning -drawn from the present state of the poems. - -Scaliger and Vossius have thought that the æra of Hesiod could be -ascertained within seventy years, more or less, by astronomical -calculation, from the following passage of The Works and Days. - - When sixty days have circled, since the sun - Turn’d from his wintry tropic, then the star - Arcturus, leaving ocean’s sacred flood, - First whole-apparent makes his evening rise. - -It is singular that so great a philosopher as Dr. Priestley should also -have argued for the certainty of the same method of chronology in this -instance of Hesiod. (Lectures on History, Lect. xii. p. 99.) But neither -the accuracy nor the precise nature of the astronomical observation here -commemorated can possibly be ascertained. It is uncertain whether the -single star Arcturus may not be placed for the whole constellation of -Boötes; of which there are examples in Columella, and other writers. -It is wholly uncertain whether this rising was observed in Hesiod’s -own country, or even in Hesiod’s own time; a knowledge of both which -particulars is essential to our making a just calculation. We shall -scarcely ascribe to Hesiod a more scientific accuracy than to subsequent -astronomers; yet we find that even _their_ observations of the solstices -and of the risings and settings of the stars, are ambiguous, and most -probably fallacious. Hesiod makes the achronycal rising of Arcturus sixty -days after the winter solstice: many other writers, and particularly -Pliny, say the same. Now setting the difference between Hesiod and -Pliny at 800 years, this will make a difference of eleven days in the -time of the phænomenon. Both therefore cannot have written from actual -observation, and probably neither did. The ancients copied from each -other without scruple; because they knew not till the time of Hipparchus, -that the times of rising &c. varied by the course of ages. They seem -besides to have copied from writers of various latitudes: unconscious -that this also made a difference. We shall not then be disposed to rely -on this, or similar passages of Hesiod, for any secure data of chronology. - -In the absence of internal evidence we are therefore referred to the -opinions of antiquity. There is a remark of Gibbon in that part of his -Posthumous Writings entitled “Extraits raisonnés de mes Lectures,” which -lays down an excellent rule of judgment in matters of chronology. -He very justly observes, that the differences of chronologers may be -reconciled by the consideration that they reckoned from different æras of -the person’s life. The fixing the date from different periods, as from -the birth or death, the production of a work,[10] or any other remarkable -event of a person’s life, might easily make the difference of a century. -“So that we may establish it as a rule of criticism, that where these -diversities do not exceed the natural term of human life we ought to -think of reconciling, and not of opposing them. There are, indeed, many -writers, with respect to Homer, whom it is impossible to conciliate; -since they take in so enormous a period as 416 years, from the return -of the Heraclidæ A. C. 1104 to the twenty-third Olympiad A. C. 688. But -besides that they are of inferior note, the great difference among them -leaves the authority of each to stand singly by itself.” - -This reasoning very much diminishes whatever force might be derived -from the authority of names, to the computations of those writers who -contend that Hesiod is a century younger than Homer. These are the Latin -writers; whose concurrence is however so exact as to induce a belief of -their having merely copied from each other. Thus Velleius Paterculus, -who wrote his history 30 years after Christ, says that Homer flourished -950 years before his time; that is, before Christ 920; and Pliny about -the year 78 computed that Homer lived 1000 years before him; before -Christ 920. Paterculus follows Cicero in placing Hesiod 120 years after -Homer: Pliny, Porphyry, and Solinus, concur in the order of their ages, -and in the interval between them: varying only from ten to twenty or -thirty years. But on the plan laid down by Gibbon, this chronology might -be reconciled with that of Ephorus, and Varro: who, according to Aulus -Gellius, made Hesiod and Homer contemporaries: as did Plutarch and -Philostratus. - -This opinion is supported by the ancient authority of Herodotus; and by -that of the Chronicler of the Parian Marbles. The authenticity of these -marbles has, indeed, been impugned by a learned dissertation of Mr. -Robertson, printed in 1788. To this an answer was published in 1789, by -Mr. Hewlett: and Mr. Gough has defended the genuineness of the Chronicle -in a Memoir of the Archæologia, vol. ix. Gibbon observes, “I respect that -monument as a useful, as an uncorrupt monument of antiquity: but why -should I prefer its authority to that of Herodotus? it is more modern: -(B. C. 264:) its author is uncertain: we know not from what source he -drew his chronology.”[11] The Parian Marble, however, if not a modern -forgery, may be allowed to stand on the same footing with other Greek -tablets of chronology. - -Herodotus was born B. C. 484. He affirms Hesiod and Homer to have -preceded his own time by four hundred years: thus making them -contemporaries; and fixing their æra at B. C. 884. - -The Chronicler of the Marbles fixes the æra of Hesiod at 944 years -B. C.: and that of Homer at 907; by which Hesiod is placed 37 years -before Homer; a difference, however, too trifling to affect the -chronological evidence in favour of their contemporary existence. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[8] Robinson, Dissertatio de Hesiodo. - -[9] “If we consider the chronology of Homer’s life to be sufficiently -established, one would be tempted to believe that his rhapsodies, as they -were called, have not only been arranged and digested in a subsequent -period, as has been asserted on good authority, but have even undergone -something similar to the _refaccimento_ by Berni of Boyardo’s Orlando.” -Essays annexed to Professor Millar’s History of the English Government. - -[10] It is strange, however, that a critic like Gibbon should have -allowed himself to talk of a definite time when “Homer wrote his Iliad;” -in an age when alphabetic characters were not in use; when poets composed -only rhapsodies, or such portions as could be recited at one time; which -were preserved by oral tradition through the recitations of succeeding -bards. - -[11] The first specimen of a regular tablet of chronology is said to have -been given by Demetrius Phalereus in his Αρχοντων Αναγραφη, about the -middle of the fourth century B. C. The historian Timæus, who flourished -in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, first arranged his narrative -in the order of Olympiads; which began B. C. 776. His contemporary -Sosibius, gave a work entitled Χρονων Αναγραφη: Apollodorus wrote the -Συνταξις Χρονικη: and on such chronologers rests the credit of all later -compilers, as well as of the Arundelian Marbles. DR. GILLIES. - -We are informed by Dr. Clarke, in his “Travels,” that these marbles were -not found in Paros, but in the Isle of Zia. - - - - -SECTION III. - -ON THE POEMS OF HESIOD.[12] - - -Pausanias informs us that “the Bœotians, who dwell round Helicon, have -a tradition among them that Hesiod wrote nothing besides the poem of -‘Works:’ and from this they take away the introduction, and say that the -poem properly begins with The Strifes. They showed me a leaden tablet -near the fountain, which was almost entirely eaten away with age, and on -which were engraven the Works and Days of Hesiod.” - -It is difficult to account for the manifest mutilation and corruption -of this venerable poet’s compositions, since it appears that they were -extant in a complete, or at least, a more perfect form, so late as the -age of Vespasian. Pliny, book xiv. complaining of the agricultural -ignorance of his age, observes that even the names of several trees -enumerated by Hesiod had grown out of knowledge: and in book xv. he -adverts to Hesiod’s opinion of the unprofitableness of the olive. From -some verses in the Astronomicon of Manilius, an Augustan writer, it would -seem that he had treated of ingrafting, and of the soils adapted to corn -and vines. - - He sings how corn in plains, how vines in hills - Delight, how both with vast increase the olive fills: - How foreign grafts th’ adulterous stock receives, - Bears stranger fruit and wonders at her leaves. - - CREECH. - -and it is remarkable that the line in Virgil translated by Dryden, - - And old Ascrean verse through Roman cities sing, - -occurs in that book of the Georgics which is dedicated to planting, -ingrafting, and the dressing of vines. In the “Works,” as they now -appear, we find no mention of any trees but such as are fit for the -fabrication of the plough: and it is plain that the countrymen of Pliny -could be in no danger of forgetting the names of the oak, the elm, or the -bay-tree. Of the olive, and of ingrafting, there is no mention whatever, -and but a cursory notice on the vine: nor is there any comparison of the -soils respectively adapted to the growth of vines and of corn. - -The poem in some editions has been divided into two books; under the -general title of “Works and Days,” but with a subdivision entitled Days -only: by which arrangement it is made virtually to consist of three -books. In Loesner’s edition the distinction of the second book is -done away: but the subdivision of Days is retained. From either mode -of disposition this incoherency results: that Works and Days no longer -appear to be the general title, but applicable only to the former part -of the poem, in which there is no mention of Days at all. The ancient -copies, as Heinsius has shown, had no division into parts. If any minor -distinction be deemed admissible for the more convenient arrangement of -the subject, the disposition of Henry Stephens is obviously the most -rational: whereby the poem is divided into two parts: the first entitled -“Works” only, and the second “Days.” - -Cooke explains the “Works” of Hesiod to mean the labours of agriculture, -and the “Days” the proper seasons for the Works; but erroneously. The -term _Works_ is to be taken with greater latitude, as including not -only labours, but actions; and as referring equally to the moral, as to -the industrious œconomy of human life. It is evident also that the term -“Days” does not respect the seasons of labour specified in the course of -the poem, but the days of superstitious observance at the end of it: and -of these many have no reference whatever to the works of husbandry. - -The Theogony has all the appearance of being a patchwork of fragments; -consisting of some genuine Hesiodéan passages;[13] pieced together with -verses of other poets, and probably of a different age. The mythology -is occasionally inconsistent with itself: thus the god Chrysaor is -re-introduced among the demi-gods; and the Fates are born over again from -different parents: an incongruity which Robinson attempts to obviate by -an ingenious, but over-refined construction. - -The proem bears the internal marks of comparatively modern refinement. -It has not the simple outline of Hesiod. The whole passage has the air -of one of those introductions which the rhapsodists were accustomed to -prefix to their recitations: it is conceived in a more florid taste than -the usual composition of Hesiod, but expressed with considerable elegance -of fancy. - -These arguments are not affected by the individual opinions of Romans and -Greeks, themselves modern with respect to Hesiod. Ovid in his “Art of -Love” alludes to this proem: - - The sister Muses did I ne’er behold, - While, Ascra! midst thy vales, I fed my fold. - -Plutarch in the ninth book of his Symposiacs, quotes two of the verses -in illustration of the propriety of epithets: Pausanias appeals to the -presentation of the branch as evidence that Hesiod did not sing to the -lyre; and Lucian in his dialogue “on the illiterate book-collector” -observes, “how can you have known these things without having learnt -them? how or whence? unless at any time you have received a branch from -the Muses like that shepherd. They, indeed, did not disdain to appear to -the shepherd, though a rough hairy man, with a sun-burnt complexion; but -they would never have deigned to come near you:” and in the “Dialogue -with Hesiod” he banters him as promising to sing of futurity; and -affecting the Chalcas or Phineas, when there is nothing of prophecy in -his whole poem. An indirect argument for the spuriousness of the verses. - -It must have been an impression of this proem which led Gibbon in his -“Notes on the editions of the Classics” (Miscellaneous Works, vol. v.) to -observe, “in the Theogony I can discern a more recent hand:” for many -details in the poem have all the internal evidence of antiquity. Perhaps -the catalogue of names, which Robinson superfluously defends on the -score of their metrical harmony, and compares with Homer’s catalogue of -ships, of which the merit is geographical and historical, may furnish a -strong presumptive argument of antiquity. They would appear to have been -composed at a period when alphabetic writing was unknown, and the memory -of names and things depended on the technical help of oral tradition. - -Pausanias says, speaking of the Theogony, “There are some who consider -Hesiod as the author of this poem.” That _some_ theogony was composed -by Hesiod is evidenced by the passage in Herodotus; who, speaking of -Hesiod and Homer, affirms, “these are they who framed a Theogony for the -Greeks:” and the fable of Pandora in the Theogony, that we now possess, -bears characteristical marks of having come from the same hand as that in -the Works and Days. - -Of the Shield of Hercules it is asserted by Cooke, that “there is -great reason to believe this poem was not in existence in the time of -Augustus:” but he merely advances, in proof of this assertion, that -“Manilius, who was an author of the Augustan age, takes notice of no -other than the Theogony, and the Works and Days:” yet this, if indeed -anything decisive could be concluded from the omission, would only -prove that he did not believe the piece authentic. He further remarks -that critics should not suppose it to have formed a part of another -poem, unless they could show when, where, or by whom the title had -been changed. This is surely to demand a very unreasonable as well as -unnecessary kind of proof. The distinct title affords, in fact, no -evidence for the completeness of the poem; as we learn from Ælian, that -portions of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were known by such separate titles -as, “the Funeral Games of Patroclus,” the “Grot of Calypso;” and sung as -detached pieces. The argument of Cooke that it cannot be an imitation -of the Shield of Achilles, because the description of the mere Shield -occupies but a small part of the piece, is equivalent to contending that -Virgil could not have imitated the simile of Diana in the first book -of the Æneid from the Odyssey, because the rest of the book bears no -resemblance to any thing in Homer. A slight presumption of the Shield -being from the hand of Hesiod may be founded on a quotation of Polybius, -from one of Hesiod’s lost works: the historian speaks of the Macedonians -as being “such as Hesiod describes the Æacidæ; rejoicing in war rather -than in the banquet:” book v. ch. i. In the Shield, Iölaus says of -himself and Hercules, that battles “are better to them than a feast.” The -expression, however, may have been proverbial, and used by more poets -than one. - -The poem is ascribed to Hesiod by Athenæus: but Aristophanes the -grammarian rejected it as spurious, and Longinus speaks doubtingly -of Hesiod being the author. Tanaquil Faber confidently asserts “that -they who think the Shield not of Hesiod, have but a very superficial -acquaintance with Grecian poetry:” and on the other side Joseph Scaliger -speaks of the author, whoever he may be, of the Shield; which the -critical world by a preposterous judgment have attributed to the poet of -Ascra. It is not by a reference to authorities that the question must be -decided, but by an examination of the interior structure of the poem, and -the evidence of style. - -The objections to a great part of the poem consist in its unlikeness to -the style of Hesiod, and its resemblance to that of Homer. - -Robinson insists in reply that it is very usual for the same author to -show a diversity of style; which is at least an admission that Hesiod is -here different from himself. But to his question “whether we demand the -same fervour and force in the Georgics of Virgil as in the Æneid?” it may -be asked in return whether a certain similarity of style be not clearly -distinguishable in these poems, however distinct their nature? there is, -indeed, a difference, but not absolutely a discordance. - -The whole laboured argument which he has bestowed on the necessary -dissimilarity of didactic and heroical composition is plainly foreign -to the question. Who would dream of urging as an objection to its -authenticity, that the style of “The Shield” is unlike the _georgical_ -style of Hesiod? the objection is, that it is unlike his _epic_ style: -and Robinson has brought the question to a fair issue by his remark that -the Battle of the Gods abounds no less than the Shield with the ornaments -of poetry. - -It is not sufficient that these passages respectively display ornament; -we must examine whether they display a similar style of ornament. Now the -descriptive part of the Shield is in a gorgeous taste; unlike the bold -and simple majesty of the Theogony. There is a visible effort to surprise -by something marvellous and uncommon; which often verges on conceit -and extravagance. For sublime images we are presented with gigantic and -distorted figures, and with hideous conceptions of disgusting horror. -There is indeed a considerable degree of genius even in these faulty -passages: but whoever perceives a resemblance in the imagery of the -Shield to that of the Titanic War, may equally trace an affinity between -Virgil and Ariosto. - -These reasonings affect that part of the poem chiefly, which is occupied -with the mere description of the Shield; but a single circumstance will -show that the passages which represent the action of the poem are both -foreign to Hesiod’s manner, and are in the manner of Homer. I allude to -the employment of similes and to the character of those similes. - -Homer is fond of comparisons; and of such, particularly, as are drawn -from animated nature. The Shield of Hercules also abounds with similes, -and they are precisely of this sort. But the frequent use of similitudes -is so far from being characteristic of Hesiod, that in the whole Battle -of the Giants but one occurs; and only one in the Combat of Jupiter and -Typhæus; and in both we look in vain for any comparison drawn from lions, -or boars, or vultures. - -Robinson appears, indeed, conscious of a more crowded and diversified -imagery in the Shield than we usually meet with in Hesiod’s poetry; for -he is driven to the miserable alternative of supposing that Hesiod may -have produced the Shield in his youth, and his other works in his old -age. Longinus in the same manner accounts for the comparative quiet -simplicity of the Odyssey. The supposition in either case is founded on -the erroneous principle, that a poem is beautiful in proportion to the -noise and fury of its action, or the accumulation of its ornament. The -notion of the genius necessarily declining with the decline of youthful -vigour is completely unphilosophical; and is contradicted by repeated -experience of the human faculties. It was in his old age that Dryden -wrote his “Fables.” - -As to that portion of the poem which is properly the Shield, and from -which the whole piece takes its title, it is self-evident that this -must have been borrowed from the description in the Iliad, or the -description in the Iliad from this. I do not allude merely to a whole -series of verses being literally the same in each; but to long passages -of description, bearing so close a resemblance as to preclude the idea -of accidental coincidence; such as the bridal procession, the siege, the -harvest, and the vintage. - -Robinson admits the imitation; but thinks the partisans of Homer cannot -easily show that Homer was not the copyist. It were, however, easy to -decide from internal evidence which is the copy. - -Where two poems are found so nearly resembling each other as to convey -at once the impression of plagiarism, the scale of originality must -doubtless preponderate in favour of that which is the more simple in -style and invention. Where a poem abounds with florid figures and -irregular flights of imagination, it is inconceivable that a _copy_ -of that poem should exhibit a chaste simplicity of fancy: but it is -highly natural that an imitator should think to transcend his original -by the aid of meretricious ornament; that he should mistake bombast for -sublimity, and attempt to dazzle and astonish. Of this sort of elaborate -refinement a single instance will serve in illustration. - -Both poets encircle their bucklers with the ocean. Robinson gives the -preference to the author of The Shield of Hercules; alleging that his -description is decorated with the utmost beauty of imagery; while that -of The Shield of Achilles is naked of embellishment. To the unornamented -style of the passage in Homer I appeal, as demonstrating the superiority -of his judgment, and as thereby establishing beyond dispute the fact of -his originality. - -In one condensed verse he pours around the verge of the buckler -“the great strength of the ocean stream.” An image of roundness and -completeness is here at once presented to the eye, and fills the mind. -But the author of the Shield of Hercules, evidently striving to excel -Homer, says that “high-soaring swans there clamoured aloud, and many -floated on the surface of the billows, and near them fishes were leaping -tumultuously.” Who does not perceive that the full image of the rounding -ocean is broken and rendered indistinct by this multiplicity of images? -The description is, indeed, picturesque; _at nunc non erat his locus_. - -Yet that Hesiod was the plagiarist will scarcely be contended, until the -assertion already advanced respecting the epic simplicity of his style -shall have been set aside. - -But the former part of the piece has all the internal marks of having -been composed by an author of totally dissimilar genius. It has the stamp -of the ancient simplicity upon it. A few passages are magnificent; but -still in a noble and pure taste. Here then I discern the hand of Hesiod. -But the presumption rests on surer grounds than characteristics of style. - -In the concluding verses of the Theogony, the poet invokes the Muses -to sing the praises of women; and among the lost works of Hesiod, -whose titles are dispersed in ancient authors, are enumerated the -four Catalogues of Women or Heroines; and the Herogony, or Generation -of Heroes descended from them; which are thought to have been five -connected parts of the same poem. That this was the work of Hesiod we -have the testimony of Pausanias; who alludes to the tale of Aurora and -Cephalus, and that of Iphigenia, as treated by Hesiod in his Catalogue -of Women. The fourth Catalogue had acquired a secondary title of Ηοιαι -μεγαλαι; the great Eoiæ: fantastically framed out of the words η οιη, or -_such as_, which introduced the stories of the successive heroines. From -the use of this title a strange idea got abroad that Eoa was the name of -a young woman of Ascra, the mistress of Hesiod. - - Bœotian Hesiod, vers’d in various lore, - Forsook the mansion where he dwelt before: - The Heliconian village sought, and woo’d - The maid of Ascra in her scornful mood: - There did the suffering bard his lays proclaim, - The strain beginning with Eoa’s name. - - HERMISIANAX OF COLOPHON, in Athenæus, book xiii.[14] - -Among the minor fragments of Hesiod are preserved three passages, each -beginning with the words η οιη, introductory of a female description. -They are naturally considered as remnants of the Fourth Catalogue. -Now the piece entitled “The Shield of Hercules” also opens with these -identical words, introductory of the story of Alcmena. - -Fabricius decides that these introductory words will not permit us to -doubt that “The Shield of Hercules” formed part of the Fourth Catalogue; -but the inference does not necessarily extend beyond the first portion -of the piece. Robinson justly argues on the incongruity of the poet’s -digressing from the tale of Alcmena, to tell a story of Hercules; and -he therefore conjectures that this piece is a fragment of the Heroical -Genealogies; but aware that the concurrence of the exordium with the -above-mentioned fragments, points the attention to the Fourth Catalogue, -he cuts the Gordian knot by changing η οιη, or _such as_, into η οιη, -_she alone_. - -Guietus suggests the reading of ηοιη, _rising with the dawn_; for the -purpose of rendering the piece complete in itself: but the very basis -of the argument in favour of the authenticity of the poem as a work -of Hesiod, is the striking coincidence of the introductory lines with -the fragments of the Fourth Catalogue. This may be set aside by the -ingenious expedient of altering the text; but if the text be suffered -to remain, the presumption, so far as it extends, is irresistible. I do -conceive that Robinson, when his judgment consented to this alteration -of the reading, yielded a very important advantage to those who dispute -the genuineness of the poem, as the production of Hesiod; that by the -abandonment of these remarkably coincident words the difficulty of -proving the poem to be a fragment is increased two-fold; and that with -the fact of its being a fragment is closely linked the fact of its -authenticity. - -From what has been said, it will perhaps be thought extraordinary that -the idea of a _cento_ of dispersed fragments, pieced together and -interpolated with Homeric imitations, never suggested itself to those -critics who have bestowed such elaborate scrutiny on the composition of -the poem. - -In the scholium of the Aldine edition of Hesiod, it is stated, “The -beginning of the Shield as far as the 250th verse is said to form a -part of the Fourth Catalogue.” Here is at once an admission of the -patchwork texture of the piece; and we may be allowed to conjecture -that the scholiast may possibly be mistaken as to the exact number of -lines. This portion, in fact, comprehends the meeting of Hercules with -Cygnus, and his arming for battle; which follows, with a strange and -startling abruptness, immediately on his birth; and seems to have little -connexion with the praises of a heroine, in a poem devoted exclusively to -celebrated women. - -I should, therefore, be inclined to consider the first fifty-six lines -only as belonging to the Fourth Catalogue. This introductory part, -ending with the birth of Hercules, is awkwardly coupled with his warlike -adventure in the grove of Apollo by the line - - Who also slew Cygnus, the magnanimous son of Mars. - -This line is perceptibly the link of connexion between the two fragments, -and betrays the hand of the interpolator. The succeeding passage, as far -as verse 153, I conjecture to have formed a part of the Herogony. It -seems probable that Hesiod’s description of the sculpture on the Shield -of Hercules was limited to the dragon in the centre, and the figure of -Discord hovering above it; and was meant to end with the effects produced -by the sight of this shield on the hero’s enemies. This short description -appears to have suggested the experiment of ingrafting upon it a florid -parody of the Shield of Achilles; and that here precisely we may fix the -commencement of the spurious additions is probable from the verses - - Οστεα δε σφι, περι ρινοῖο σαπεισης, - Σειριου αζαλεοιο, κελαινῇ πυθεται αιῃ. - - Through the flesh that wastes away - Beneath the parching sun, their whitening bones - Start forth, and moulder in the sable dust: - -being instantly followed by a passage from the Achillean Shield: Εν δε -προιωξις, &c. - - Pursuit was there, and fiercely rallying Flight. - -I suppose, therefore, the description of the putrefying corses of the -foes of Hercules to have joined the 320th verse; where he is made to -grasp the shield and ascend the chariot. Several of the subsequent -passages, as, in particular, the description of the Cicada, appear to me -genuine; but they are visibly patched with Homeric similes, which are in -general mere plagiarisms; and are not at all in unison with the style -of the rest of the poem; nor with the characteristic manner of Hesiod. -This mixture of authenticity and imposture will explain the contradictory -decisions of learned men; who, in examining this curious question, have -looked only at one side. - -It does not appear that Hesiod was the most ancient author either of a -theogony or a rural poem; although Herodotus speaks of him as the first -who framed a theogonic system for the Greeks, and Pliny cites him as -the earliest didactic poet on agriculture. But tradition has preserved -the fame of theogonies by Orpheus and Musæus: and Tzetzes mentions two -poems of Orpheus, the one entitled _Works_, the other _Diaries_; the -archetypes, probably, of The Works and Days. - -Quintilian observes that “Hesiod rarely rises, and a great part -of him is occupied in names; yet he is distinguished by useful -sentences conveying precepts, and a commendable sweetness of words and -construction; and the palm is given him in that middle kind of writing.” - -This is niggardly praise; and is somewhat similar to that which the same -critic awards to Apollonius Rhodius;[15] whose picturesque style and -impassioned sentiment are honoured with the diluted commendation of “an -equable mediocrity.” Who that read the above character would suppose that -Hesiod was at all superior to the gnomic or sententious poets; such as -Theognis or Phocylides? that he had ever composed his Combat of Giants, -or his Ages of Gold and of Iron? - -If the battle of the Titans be Hesiod’s genuine composition, and if -the Shield, as there is reason to believe, contain authentic extracts -from his Heroical Genealogies, we shall decide that Hesiod, as compared -with Homer, is less rapid; less fervent in action; less teeming with -allusions and comparisons; but grand, energetic, occasionally vehement -and daring; but more commonly proceeding with a slow and stately march. -In the mental or moral sublime I consider Hesiod as superior to Homer. -The personification of Prayers in the latter is almost the only allegory -that can be compared with the awful prosopopeia of Justice, weeping her -wrongs at the feet of the Eternal: while Justice and Modesty, described -as virgins in white raiment, ascending out of the sight of men into -heaven, and the Holy Dæmons, after having animated the bodies of just -men, hovering round the earth, and keeping watch over human actions, are -equalled by no conceptions in the Iliad or Odyssey. - -Addison, with that squeamish artificial taste which distinguishes the age -of Anne, as compared with that of Elizabeth, underrates, as might have -been expected, the vigorous simplicity of Hesiod. But the strong though -simple sketches of the old Ascræan bard are often more striking than the -finished paintings of the Mantuan. Critics admire the pastoral board of -Virgil’s Corycian husbandman; but there is a far greater charm in the -summer-repast of Hesiod: so picturesque in its scenery; so patriarchal in -its manners. The winter tempest is a bolder copy of nature than any thing -in the Latin Georgics; more fresh in colouring; more circumstantiated in -detail. The rising of the north-wind, moving the ocean, rooting the pines -and oaks from the tops of the mountains, and strewing them along the -valleys, and after a pause, suddenly roaring in its strength through the -depths of the forests; the exquisite circumstances of life intermingled -with the effects of the storm on inanimate nature; the beasts quaking and -grinding their teeth with cold and famine; shuddering at the snowflakes, -and shrinking into dens and thickets; the old man bent double with the -blast;[16] the delicate contrast of the young virgin, sheltered in a soft -chamber under her mother’s roof, and bathing previously to her nightly -rest, compose a picture wild, romantic, and interesting in an uncommon -degree. - -As a legendary mythologist the elegant tale of Pandora, and the Island -of the Blessed Spirits, are far beyond any thing of Ovid, and can only -be compared with Homer: and as a poetical moralist, the strongest proof -of his merit is, that innumerable sentences of Hesiod, as is well -remarked by Voltaire in his “Dictionnaire Philosophique” have grown into -proverbial axioms. Cicero observes in one of his Epistles; “Let our dear -Lepta learn Hesiod, and have by heart ‘the gods have placed before virtue -the sweat of the brow.’” His plain and downright rules of decency,[17] -his superstitious saws, and his lumber of names, belong to the manners -of a semi-barbarous village and the learning of a dark age: his genius -and his wisdom are his own. From that which remains, mutilated as it -obviously is, we may form a judgment of what he would appear to us, if -the whole of his numerous works, complete and unadulterated by foreign -mixture, were submitted to our observation. _Ex pede Herculem._ - - -FOOTNOTES - -[12] The following are enumerated as the lost poems of Hesiod. - -The Catalogue of Women or Heroines, in five parts, of which the fifth -appears to have been entitled “The Herogony.” SUIDAS. - -The Melampodia; from the sooth-sayer Melampus; a poem on divination. -PAUSANIAS, ATHENÆUS. - -The great Astronomy or Stellar Book. PLINY. - -Descent of Theseus into Hades. PAUSANIAS. - -Admonitions of Chiron to Achilles. PAUSANIAS, ARISTOPHANES. - -Soothsayings and Explications of Signs. PAUSANIAS. - -Divine Speeches. MAXIMUS TYRIUS. - -Great Actions. ATHENÆUS. - -Of the Dactyli of Cretan Ida; discoverers of iron. SUIDAS, PLINY. - -Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis. TZETZES. - -Ægimius. ATHENÆUS. _Apocryphal._ - -Elegy on Batrachus, a beloved youth. SUIDAS. - -Circuit of the Earth. STRABO. - -The Marriage of Ceyx. ATHENÆUS, PLUTARCH. - -On Herbs. PLINY. - -On Medicine. PLUTARCH. - -Fabricius (Bibliotheca Græca) supposes the two latter subjects to be -alluded to as incidental topics in other works of Hesiod. But the -passages quoted by him from Pliny and Plutarch seem to justify the -opinion that they meant to advert to distinct poems. There is nothing in -the works extant which favours the former idea. Mallows and asphodel are -the only herbs mentioned: and that merely as synonymous with a frugal -meal: like the _cichorea levesque malvæ_ of Horace: nor is there anything -medical; for the passages respecting bathing, children, &c. are mere -superstitions, unconnected with health. Athenæus (book iii.) quotes some -verses as ascribed to Hesiod respecting the fishes fit for salting; but -says they seem to be rather the verses of a cook than of a poet; and adds -that cities are mentioned in them which were posterior to Hesiod’s time. -Lilius Gyraldus states that the fables of Æsop have been assigned to -Hesiod. Plutarch, indeed, observes that Æsop might himself have profited -by Hesiod’s apologue of the Hawk and the Nightingale; and Quintilian -mentions Hesiod, and not Æsop, as the earliest fabulist; which passages -may have been strained to bear the above meaning. As to the Greek fables, -extant under the name of Æsop, they are proved to be spurious. See -Bentley’s Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris, Themistocles, &c. and -the fables of Æsop. - -[13] Manilius, describing the subjects of Hesiod, has a line - - Atque iterum patrio nascentem corpore Bacchum, - -excellently rendered by Creech, a translator now too fastidiously -undervalued, - - And twice-born Bacchus burst the Thunderer’s thigh: - -but this tale, which Ovid and Nonnus have related, is not found in the -present theogony. - -[14] In the same poem, which is a love-elegy to his mistress Leontium on -the sufferings of lovers, Homer is made to visit Ithaca, “sighing like -furnace” for the chaste Penelope. - -[15] The Quarterly Reviewer, in his critique on my “Specimens of the -Classic Poets,” conceives it strange that I should prefer the Medea -of Apollonius to Virgil’s Dido; and talks of critical heresies. The -deliberation of Medea on her purposed suicide, and her interview with -Jason in the temple of Hecate, place the matter beyond all question; -except with those who may be frightened by the word _heresy_ into a -surrender of their judgments to vulgar prejudice and traditional error. - -[16] This fine natural image is ridiculously parodied by Addison, “The -old men, too, _are bitterly pinched by the weather_.” Essay on Virgil’s -Georgics. - -[17] These were excluded from the first edition of my translation, but -are now reinstated, as curiously illustrative of manners. - - - - -SECTION IV. - -ON THE MYTHOLOGY OF HESIOD. - - -Diogenes Laertius mentions that Pythagoras feigned to have seen the -soul of Hesiod in the infernal regions, bound to a brazen pillar, and -howling in torture for his false representations of the Deities: and -that of Homer environed with serpents for the same reason. Plato, in a -similar feeling, excluded both these poets from his ideal republic. It -seems strange that the philosophers should have failed to perceive that -Hesiod and Homer repeated merely the popular legends of their age; as is -abundantly evident from the style and manner of narration and allusion -throughout their poems. - -The following passage of Herodotus has been construed to mean that they -were the absolute inventors of the Grecian theology; “Whence each of -the Gods came; whether all have continually existed, or what figures -they severally had, was known but lately; or, if I may so speak, only -yesterday; for I am of opinion that Hesiod and Homer were older than -myself by four hundred years, and not more; these are they who framed -a theogony for the Greeks, and gave titles to the gods; distinguishing -their honours and functions, and describing their forms.” - -Against such an hypothesis several reasons obviously present themselves: -1st, A plurality of gods could scarcely be the production of a single -age, much less of one or two individuals: 2dly, It is not likely that -Greece, which was visited by Ægyptian and Phœnician colonists at an æra -long antecedent to the age of Homer, should have been destitute of a -religious system: 3dly, It is not credible that a whole nation, at the -suggestion of one or two bards, should have abandoned this received -system in order to adopt a whole hierarchy of divinities, of whom they -had never before heard. - -But the doubt of Herodotus, “whether they have continually existed,” -shows that he merely considered Hesiod and Homer in the light of -collectors and illustrators of the ancient religion of their country; and -Wesseling accordingly interprets ποιησαντες as referring to arrangement -and description, not invention. This stupid inference could in fact -never have been drawn, had Herodotus been compared with himself: as in a -preceding passage he says, “Nearly all the names of the gods have come -into Greece from Ægypt; for I have ascertained it to be a fact that they -are of barbaric extraction.” - -Herodotus, however, seems to have been in error, even as to this position -of Hesiod and Homer having first digested the mythology of Greece into a -system: and as he could not be ignorant that theogonies were ascribed to -poets reputed their elders, such as Musæus and Orpheus, he was reduced -to the alternative of making these poets their juniors. “Those poets,” -he observes, “who were said to be before them, were in my opinion after -them.” - -But Cicero (in Bruto, cap. xviii.) sensibly argues, “nor can it be -doubted that there were poets before Homer; which may be inferred from -the songs described by him as sung in the banquets of the Phæacians and -the suitors.” Fabricius makes a comment, that “it cannot be proved from -this, that Greek poems, before Homer, were committed to writing, and so -handed down to posterity.” As if the poems of Homer himself had been -transmitted in any other manner than by oral tradition![18] - -The pre-existence of religious rites seems, indeed, to involve that of -poetical cosmogonies and mythological hymns. Before the invention of -letters there was no other traditionary record, or vehicle of popular -instruction, or organ of religious homage and supplication, than verse: -the conclusion follows that there were both poets anterior to the age of -Homer,[19] and that these poets were also mythologists. - -Pausanias mentions Olen of Lycia; who, he says, composed very ancient -hymns; and who in his hymn to Lucina, makes her the mother of Love: and -he names Pamphus and Orpheus, as succeeding Olen, and as also composing -hymns to the mythological Love. - -The doubt entertained by Aristotle and Cicero of the personal existence -of Orpheus, neither affects the antiquity of the name, nor of that system -of theology which bears the title of Orphic. The relics now extant under -that name have, indeed, been suspected as the forgeries of Onomacritus, -the sooth-sayer, who produced the hymns to the people of Athens: but -Gesner is of opinion that he only altered the dialect of genuine Orphic -remains, on which he ingrafted his own additions. The fragments which -have come down to us appear certainly from internal evidence to contain -a theology more ancient than that of Hesiod and Homer; for the nearer it -approaches in any of its parts to the religious system of the Ægyptians, -the stronger is the presumptive testimony of its antiquity. - -[20]The Ægyptians held that the world was produced from Chaos, or Water. -They worshipped the Sun, as Osiris, Hammon, and Horus; the Moon, as Isis; -the Cabiri or Planets, as symbols of invisible divinities. They had two -systems of worship; the one exoteric or popular, the other esoteric or -mystical. The adoration of the celestial bodies was literal with the -people, and emblematical with the priesthood. They supposed emanations -from divinity to be resident in the parts of nature; and thus that the -sun, moon, and stars, and the other bodies of the universe, were animated -with a divine spirit or virtue; or retained portions of a divine essence -from good demons or genii, who dwelt in them: these dæmons had been -inclosed in the bodies of virtuous men; and having left them, passed -into the stars and planets, which were consequently worshipped as gods. -Hence probably the legend of Hesiod, who supposes the spirits of men in -the golden age to become holy dæmons; though these dæmons are not sent to -the stars, but hover round the earth and keep watch over the actions of -humankind. - -Jablonski, in his Pantheon Ægyptiorum, considers this stellar theology as -resolvable into an astronomical and Niliacal idolatry. The terrestrial -Osiris is the Nile: the celestial Osiris the Sun, in his zodiacal -progress through the signs that preside over the seasons. Amon, Jupiter, -designates the Sun in the constellation of Aries. In the vernal -equinox he is Hercules, in the summer solstice Horus or Apollo, in -the winter solstice Harpocrates. Serapis was the Nile in its period of -fertilization, or the autumnal Sun of the lower hemisphere. Isis was -the moon, the mother of multiform nature; the same also as Neitha or -Minerva, and the causer of the Nile’s inundations. Tithrambo, Brimo, or -Hecate, was Isis incensed, or the maleficent moon. Bubastis, Diana, or -Latona, was the titular symbol of the New Moon, and Buto or Latona of -the full. The Cabiri, or Seven Planets, were worshipped as appendants of -the greater gods; thus the planet Venus was the star of Isis, and the -planet Jupiter the star of Osiris. The dog-headed Anubis, or Mercury, -was the celestial horizon, the guard of the Sun’s gate, and the follower -of Isis or the Moon. The bull Apis was a living symbol of the Nile; but -was supposed to have been generated in a heifer by the transmission of -celestial fire from the Moon; and was sacred both to that planet and to -the Sun. A living goat was the symbol of Mendes or Pan; the generative -principle of all nature. These animal types were multiplied; thus a -lion figured the Sun; a cow, Isis and Venus; and a hawk, Osiris. Stones -were also made typical. An obelisk represented the Sun; and seven -columns, such as Pausanias saw in Laconia, the Planets. They worshipped -also Night, the supposed creative principle of all things, as Athor, -Venus,[21] or Juno; and Pthas, the Vulcan as well as Minerva of the -Grecians; the masculo-feminine cause and soul of the world; a pervading -infinite spirit, or subtile ethereal fire, superior to the solar and -planetary orbs; from which emanated terrestrial souls, and to which they -returned. This system may very well be reconciled with the received -theology; as it is not at all improbable that the subtile and scientific -Ægyptians should have refined upon their original emblems, by connecting -with them a secondary astronomical signification. In the explication of -certain terms, and the identity and nature of many of the deities, the -“Ægyptian Pantheon” agrees with the “New Analysis.” - -Proclus (in Timæum, book i.) mentions a statue of Neitha or Minerva in -a temple at Sais, in Ægypt, inscribed on the base with hieroglyphical -characters to this effect: “I am whatever things are, whatever shall be, -and whatever have been. None have lifted up my veil. The fruit which I -have brought forth is the Sun.” Notwithstanding the mixed planetary -worship, the Sun was considered by the Ægyptians as the king and -architect of the universe: who under the name of Osiris comprehended in -himself the power and efficacy of all the other material gods. Consistent -with this is the Orphic fragment: - - Hear me thou! for ever whirling round the rolling heavens on high - Thy far-travelling orb of splendour midst the whirlpools of the sky: - Hear, effulgent Jove and Bacchus! father both of earth and sea! - SUN all-various! golden-beaming! all things teeming out of thee! - -In another passage Orpheus identifies with the sun the different deities. - - ONE Jove and Pluto; Bacchus, and the SUN; - One God alike in all, and all are ONE. - -The cosmogonists of Ægypt represented the Demiurgus or Universal Maker, -in a human form, sending forth from his mouth an egg; which egg was the -world. They called him Kneph; who was the same as Pthas, the essential -pervading energy. Chaos is described by Orpheus, in the manner of Ovid, -as an immense, self-existent, heterogeneous mass; neither luminous nor -tenebrous; which in the lapse of ages generated an egg; and from this egg -was produced a masculo-feminine principle, which disposed the elements, -and created the forms of nature. A primæval water or Chaos, and a mundane -egg, are found also in the mythology of India. - -In the cosmogonic system of Ægypt the world was Deity, and its parts -other gods; a doctrine equivalent to the το πᾶν of the Stoics; the -inherent divinity of the universe; which Lucan seems to intend in the -sentiment of Cato: - - Deus est quodcunque vides: quòcunque moveris. - - Whate’er we see, where’er we move, is God. - -This system is unfolded in the Orphic hymns: - - Jove is the breath of all: the force of quenchless flame: - The root of ocean Jove: the sun and moon the same: - Jove is the king, the sire, whence generation sprang: - One strength, one Dæmon, great, on whom all beings hang: - His regal body grasps the vast material round: - There fire, earth, air, and wave, and day and night, are found. - -The same physico-theology appears in the Orphean verses, - - I swear by those, the generating powers, - Whence sprang the gods that have eternal being; - Fire, Water, Earth, and Heaven, the Moon and Sun, - Great Love effulgent, and the sable Night! - -and in another fragment, preserved by Eusebius: (Præparat. Evang. iii. 9.) - - Fire, water, earth, and ether, night and day, - Metis, first sire, and all-delighting Love. - -Metis is Minerva or Vulcan, the mind of the universe already noticed. - -From a general view of the Ægyptian and Orphic theogonies, they would -appear to consist in an atheistic materialism; for although they -acknowledge a certain divine, or active, principle pervading and -animating passive matter, nothing can be inferred from this, superior -to a physical operative energy. Jablonski indeed contends that, -exclusive of the worship of the signs of the zodiac, and the solar and -lunar phenomena, the more ancient Ægyptians recognized an _intelligent_ -power, or infinite Eternal Mind, on whose wisdom the operations of the -_sensible_ or visible divinities depended. But it may be doubted whether -this controlling intelligence were any thing different from the before -described emanation of the supposed ethereal spirit of holy dæmons, or -deified men. - -Hesiod begins his poem on the generation of the gods with certain -cosmogonical principles. Chaos first exists; then Earth; and thirdly -Love. Erebus and Night spring from Chaos, and generate Ether and Day; -and Earth produces Heaven. But we search in vain through the rest of -the work for the subtile intelligence of the Orphic philosophy. It has -been attempted, indeed, to reduce the whole into a consistent scheme -of theogonic physiology, by allegorizing the supernatural battles into -volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and earthquakes; but much would still -remain incapable of being wrested to a physical sense. On certain crude -principles of cosmogonical tradition, and lineal generations of gods, -intermingled with the generation of the world, the theogonist has -ingrafted ancient legendary histories, and poetical and moral allegories. -The historical mythology is alone significant; for every thing respecting -the nature of the gods was in Hesiod’s time perverted and misunderstood. -The bard was no longer clothed in the robe of the hierophant. - -Very different hypotheses have been framed to explain the Greek -polytheism. They have failed _because_ they were hypotheses. When the -Abbé Banier[22] detects the real characters of profane history in -the gods of the Pantheon; and when De Gebelin[23] sees in them only -emblematical shadows, personifying the successive inventions of the -sciences and arts, we are reminded of the observation of Dr. Reid; -(Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man:) “that there never was an -hypothesis invented by an ingenious man, which although destitute of -direct evidence, did not serve to account for a variety of phenomena, -and had not therefore an indirect evidence in its favour.” Even the -Alchemists have laid claim to the heathen mythology; the pagan stories -have been analysed into chemical arcana: the golden fleece becomes a -recipe for the discovery of the philosopher’s stone inscribed on a -ram’s-skin, and Medea restores her father to life by means of the grand -elixir.[24] - -But it were an unreasonable scepticism to argue from these visionary -theories, that the ancient fabulous philosophy is a mass of inscrutable -and unmeaning superstition. The affinity between the different systems of -paganism rests on irrefutable proof.[25] This affinity points to a common -origin. The light of history directs us to Ægypt. The astronomical genius -of that nation led them to symbolize their idols by the celestial signs. -These idols were the deified memories of men. As to their individuality, -we are assisted by certain resemblances in heathen theology to Mosaic -scripture. This parallel may have been urged too closely and too -fancifully; as by Huet, in his “Demonstratio Evangelica:” who affirms -that all the deities of the Ægyptians, Indians, Americans, Greeks, and -Italians, are only Moses in disguise; and by Theophilus Gale, in his -“Court of the Gentiles;” who draws a parallel between the god Pan, and -the Messias, Abel, and Israel; and who derives not only both the mythic -or fabulous, and the physical theology of the heathens, but all human -letters and sciences from the Hebrew language and scriptures, and the -philosophies of Joseph, Moses, and Solomon. Mistakes may have arisen -from trusting too much to a specious analogy; as where Tubal-cain, -the artificer of brass and iron, is identified with Vulcan.[26] The -conjectures of Hebraic etymologists, also, as of Bochart, in the Phaleg -and Canaan of his Geographia sacra, must be acknowledged to be often -vague and inconclusive. But so plain are the general traces of corrupted -scripture-history, that Celsus, in his books against the Christians, -attacks the biblical records as plagiarisms from the pagan mythology; and -asserts that Paradise is borrowed from the gardens of Alcinous, and the -flood of Noah from that of Deucalion; which Origen refutes by the greater -antiquity of the Jewish traditions. - -It is not to be supposed that they, who trace these parallels of -mythology with scripture, mean that scripture was its immediate source: -as the French Encyclopædists seem to think, when they ridicule the idea -of the Grecian poets having deduced their fables from the Mosaic books, -of which they knew nothing. The religious separation of the Jews renders -it improbable, that even the intellectual philosophy of the Greek sages, -as Thales and Pythagoras, should have been indebted for the idea of pure -incorporeal deity to the sacred oracles: though Dr. Anderson conceives -it probable that “the Mosaic scriptures, and other prophetical writings -under the Jewish dispensation, could not be unknown to the priests of -Ægypt, Chaldæa, and other adjacent countries.” History of Philosophy, p. -88. - -But the improbability is greatly increased with respect to the -mythological philosophy; nor is it credible that the circumstances of -pagan story, on the supposition of their representing the same events -as those recorded in the book of Genesis, should have been transferred -immediately from the volume of Moses by poets or philosophers into the -popular religion. Nations do not borrow vast systems of theology from -poets or even from priests. Gale does not suppose that priests or bards -imported the Hebrew accounts from the sacred writings; but that they -were learnt, through international communication with the Jews, by the -Phœnicians; who, in their various nautical enterprizes, carried them to -distant countries. - -But the temple of heathen mythology rests its pillars in the two -hemispheres, and overshadows climes unvisited by the navigators of -Phœnicia. Its basis must, apparently, be sought without the circle of -Jewish report and scripture, in ancient gentile tradition. Stillingfleet -convincingly argues, that, assuming the descent of mankind from the -posterity of Noah, the obliteration and extinction of all remnants of -oral history concerning the ancient world is utterly inconceivable. He -proceeds to show that such fragments were, in fact, so preserved in -many nations after the dispersion; that they were appropriated by the -Phœnicians, Greeks, Italians, and others to their respective countries; -and that portions of Noah’s memory, in particular, were retained in many -fables under Saturn, Janus, Prometheus, and Bacchus. - -Similar to this is the outline of the Analytic System; in which, however, -the dæmon-worship of the patriarchs of mankind is connected with the -arkite and ophite idolatry under the types of the sun and moon. The -affinities in the pagan sister-mythologies are explained by the general -dissemination of these idolatrous mysteries, and the traditions which -they were designed to commemorate, through the dispersion of a peculiar -people in the early ages; migrating from a central point, and spreading -through the extremest regions of the east and west. - -“This wonderful people were the descendants of Chus; and called Cuthites -and Cuseans. They stood their ground at the general migration of -families, but were at last scattered over the face of the earth. They -were the first apostates from the truth, yet great in worldly wisdom. -They introduced, wherever they came, many useful arts, and were -looked up to as a superior order of beings. They were joined in their -expeditions by other nations; especially by the collateral branches of -their family; the Mizraim, Caphtorim, and the sons of Canaän. These were -all of the line of Ham, who was held by his posterity in the highest -veneration. They called him Amon; and having in process of time raised -him to a divinity, they worshipped him as the Sun; and from this worship -they were called Amonians. Under this denomination are included all -of this family; whether they were Ægyptians or Syrians, of Phœnicia -or of Canaän. They were a people who carefully preserved memorials of -their ancestors, and of those great events which had preceded their -dispersion. These were described in hieroglyphics on pillars and obelisks. - -“The deity whom they originally worshipped was the Sun; but they soon -conferred his titles upon some other of their ancestors; whence arose a -mixed worship. Chus was one of these; and the idolatry began among his -sons. The same was practised by the Ægyptians; but this nation made many -subtile distinctions; and supposing that there were certain emanations -of divinity, they affected to particularize each by some title, and to -worship the deity by his attributes. This gave rise to a multiplicity of -gods. The Grecians, who received their religion from Ægypt and the East, -misapplied the terms which they had received, and made a god out of every -title.” _Preface to the Analysis of Ancient Mythology._ - - -FOOTNOTES - -[18] We know from Homer (Il. vi.) that when Prætus sent Bellerophon to -the king of Lycia he gave him, not a written letter, but σηματα λυγρα, -_mournful signs_; (probably like the picture-writing of the Mexicans:) -writing could not be common till many centuries afterwards, since the -first written laws were given in Greece only six centuries B. C. (Herod. -lib. ii. Strab. lib. vi.) DR. GILLIES. - -[19] “The Trœzenian histories,” observes Ælian, book xi. ch. 2, “relate -that the poems of Oræbantius, a native of Trœzene, were in existence -before Homer; and I know they affirm that Dares the Phrygian, whose -Iliad is even now extant, lived before Homer’s time. Melisander, the -Milesian, likewise, composed the battle of the Lapithæ and the Centaurs.” - -[20] Brucker, Historia Critica Philosophiæ, tom. i. Homer represents -father Oceanus as the generator of all things: and the Chaos of Hesiod is -merely the watery element. - -[21] So Orpheus: - - NIGHT, source of all things, whom we VENUS name. - -Night and Chaos, or the aqueous mass, seem reciprocally considered as the -source of nature. - -[22] La Mythologie, ou la Fable expliquée par l’Histoire. - -[23] Monde Primitif. - -[24] Wotton’s Reflections on ancient and modern Learning. - -[25] See Sir William Jones’s Dissertation on the Gods of Greece, Italy, -and India. - -[26] The working of metals was not among the ancient attributes of -Vulcan: but a diversity of character or attributes is not always an -objection. Each god had not only a twofold nature, celestial, and human -or heroical, but his history and qualities changed with change of place. -Thus Hercules was the Sun; he was also a vagabond hero; but he may have -been one person in Greece, and another in Phœnicia. Gerard Vossius, -in his treatise “de Origine et Progressu Idolatriæ,” may therefore be -right in his conjecture, that among the Phœnicians both Joshua and -Samson were commemorated in the Tyrian Hercules. Bacchus was the Sun, -and an Indian conqueror. His history also assimilates with that of Noah. -He was likewise in all probability Caphtor, the grandson of Ham; the -great Ægyptian warrior who dispossessed the Avim of that part of the -land of Canaan, afterwards called Philistia. (See Priestley’s Lectures -on History, i. 5.) But it is natural that the Phœnicians, who visited -Greece when the memory of Moses was still vivid among the Canaanites, -should have brought with them miraculous reports of the Jewish lawgiver, -which were added to the history of Bacchus. Bacchus is called by Orpheus, -Μισης; and by Plutarch (de Iside et Osiride) Palæstinus. Bacchus was -exposed in an ark upon a river: a double coincidence with Noah and -Moses, which is exactly in the spirit of the old mythologists. Nonnus, -in his Dionysiacs, mentions the flight of Bacchus to the red sea, and -his battles with the Princes of Arabia; and relates that he touched -the rivers Orontes and Hydaspes with his thyrsus, and that the rivers -dried up, and he passed through dry-shod. The Indians are in darkness, -while the Bacchic army are in light. The ivy-rod of Bacchus is thrown -on the ground, and creeps to and fro like a live serpent. Snakes twist -themselves about the hair and limbs of Bacchus; which may be a shadow -of the fiery serpents in the wilderness. The host of Bacchus, like the -multitude led by Moses, is accompanied by women. One of the Bacchæ -touches a rock, and water gushes out; at another time wine and honey; and -the rivers run with milk. These circumstances are very remarkable. See -Stillingfleet, Origines Sacræ, ch. v. Nonnus, Dionysiacs. - - - - -The Works and Days. - - - - -THE WORKS AND DAYS. - - -The Argument. - -The poem comprehends the general œconomy of industry and morals. In the -first division of the subject, the state of the world, past and present, -is described; for the purpose of exemplifying the condition of human -nature: which entails on man the necessity of exertion to preserve the -goods of life; and leaves him no alternative but honest industry or -unjust violence; of which the good and evil consequences are respectively -illustrated. TWO STRIFES are said to have been sent into the world, the -one promoting dissension, the other emulation. Perses is exhorted to -abjure the former and embrace the latter; and an apposite allusion is -made to the circumstance of his litigiously disputing the patrimonial -estate, of which, through the corruption of the judges, he obtained -the larger proportion. The judges are rebuked, and cheap contentment -is apostrophized as the true secret of happiness. Such is stated to -have been the original sense of mankind before the necessity of labour -existed. The origin of labour is deduced from the resentment of Jupiter -against Prometheus; which resentment led to the formation of PANDORA: -or WOMAN: who is described with her attributes, and is represented as -bringing with her into the world a casket of diseases. The degeneracy -of man is then traced through successive ages. The three first ages are -severally distinguished as the golden, the silver, and the brazen. The -fourth has no metallic distinction, but is described as the heroic age, -and as embracing the æra of the Trojan war. The fifth is styled the iron -age, and, according to the Poet, is that in which he lives. The general -corruption of mankind in this age is detailed, and Modesty and Justice -are represented taking their flight to heaven. A pointed allusion to -the corrupt administration of the laws, in his own particular instance, -is introduced in a fable, typical of oppression. Justice is described -as invisibly following those who violate her decrees with avenging -power, and as lamenting in their streets the wickedness of a corrupted -people. The temporal blessings of an upright nation are contrasted with -the temporal evils which a wicked nation draws down from an angry -Providence. Holy Dæmons are represented as hovering about the earth, -and keeping watch over the actions of men. Justice is again introduced, -carrying her complaints to the feet of Jupiter, and obtaining that the -crimes of rulers be visited on their people. A pathetic appeal is then -made to these rulers in their judicial capacity, urging them to renounce -injustice. After some further exhortations to virtue and industry, and -a number of unconnected precepts, the Poet enters on the GEORGICAL -part of his subject: which contains the prognostics of the seasons of -agricultural labour, and rules appertaining to wood-felling, carpentry, -ploughing, sowing, reaping, threshing, vine-dressing, and the vintage. -This division of the subject includes a description of winter and of -a repast in summer. He then treats of navigation: and concludes with -some desultory precepts of religion, moral decorum, and superstition: -and lastly, with a specification of DAYS: which are divided into holy, -auspicious, and inauspicious: mixed and intermediary: or such as are -entitled to no remarkable observance. - - -WORKS. - - -I. - - Come, Muses! ye, that from Pieria raise - The song of glory, sing your father’s praise. - By Jove’s high will th’ unknown and known of fame - Exist, the nameless and the fair of name. - ’Tis He with ease [27]the bowed feeble rears, - And casts the mighty from their highest spheres: - With ease of human grandeur shrouds the ray: - With ease on abject darkness pours the day: - Straightens the crooked: grinds to dust the proud; - Thunderer on high, whose dwelling is the cloud. - Now bend thine eyes from heaven: behold and hear: - Rule thou the laws in righteousness and fear: - While I to Perses’ heart would fain convey - The truths of knowledge which inspire my lay. - Two STRIFES on earth of soul divided rove: - The wise will this condemn and that approve: - Accursed the one spreads misery from afar, - And stirs up discord and pernicious war: - Men love not this: yet heaven-enforced maintain - The strife abhorr’d, but still abhorr’d in vain. - [28]The other elder rose from darksome night: - The God high-throned, who dwells in ether’s light, - Fix’d deep in earth, and centred midst mankind - This better strife, which fires the slothful mind. - The needy idler sees the rich, and hastes - Himself to guide the plough, and plant the wastes: - Ordering his household: thus the neighbour’s eyes - Mark emulous the wealthy neighbour rise: - Beneficent this strife’s incensing zeal: - The potters angry turn the forming wheel: - Smiths beat their anvils; [29]almsmen zealous throng, - And minstrels kindle with the minstrel’s song. - Oh Perses! thou within thy secret breast - Repose the maxims by my care imprest; - Nor ever let that evil-joying strife - Have power to wean thee from the toils of life; - The whilst thy prying eyes the forum draws, - Thine ears the process, and the din of laws. - Small care be his of wrangling and debate - For whose ungather’d food the garners wait; - Who wants within the summer’s plenty stored, - Earth’s kindly fruits, and Ceres’ yearly hoard. - With these replenish’d, at the brawling bar - For others’ wealth go instigate the war. - But this thou mays’t no more: let justice guide, - Best boon of heaven, and future strife decide. - Not so we shared [30]the patrimonial land - When greedy pillage fill’d thy grasping hand: - The bribe-devouring Judges lull’d by thee - The sentence gave and stamp’d the false decree: - Oh fools! who know not in their selfish soul - How far the half is better than the whole: - [31]The good which asphodel and mallows yield, - The feast of herbs, the dainties of the field! - [32]The food of man in deep concealment lies: - The angry gods have hid it from our eyes. - Else had one day bestow’d sufficient cheer, - And, though inactive, fed thee through the year. - Then might thy hand [33]have laid the rudder by, - In blackening smoke for ever hung on high; - Then had the labouring ox foregone the soil, - And patient mules had found reprieve from toil. - But Jove conceal’d our food: incensed at heart, - Since [34]mock’d by wise Prometheus’ wily art. - Sore ills to man devised the heavenly Sire, - And hid the shining element of fire. - Prometheus then, benevolent of soul, - In hollow reed the spark recovering stole; - Cheering to man; and mock’d the god, whose gaze - Serene rejoices in the lightning’s blaze. - “Oh son of Japhet!” with indignant heart, - Spake the Cloud-gatherer: “oh, unmatch’d in art! - Exultest thou in this the flame retrieved, - And dost thou triumph in the god deceived? - But thou, with the posterity of man, - Shalt rue the fraud whence mightier ills began: - I will send evil for thy stealthy fire, - [35]An ill which all shall love, and all desire. - The Sire who rules the earth and sways the pole - Had said, and laughter fill’d his secret soul: - He bade famed Vulcan with the speed of thought - Mould plastic clay with tempering waters wrought: - Inform with voice of man the murmuring tongue; - The limbs with man’s elastic vigour strung; - The aspect fair as goddesses above, - A virgin’s likeness with the brows of love. - He bade Minerva teach the skill, that sheds - A thousand colours in the gliding threads: - Bade lovely Venus breathe around her face - The charm of air, the witchery of grace: - Infuse corroding pangs of keen desire, - And cares that trick the form with prank’d attire: - Bade Hermes last implant the craft refined - Of thievish manners and a shameless mind. - He gives command; th’ inferior powers obey: - The crippled artist moulds the temper’d clay: - By Jove’s design a maid’s coy image rose: - [36]The zone, the dress, Minerva’s hands dispose: - Adored Persuasion, and the Graces young, - [37]With chains of gold her shapely person hung: - Round her smooth brow [38]the beauteous-tressed Hours - A garland twined of spring’s purpureal flowers: - The whole, Minerva with adjusting art - Forms to her shape and fits to every part. - Last by the counsels of deep-thundering Jove, - The Argicide, [39]his herald from above, - Adds thievish manners, adds insidious lies, - And prattled speech of sprightly railleries: - Then by the wise interpreter of heaven - The name Pandora to the maid was given: - Since all in heaven conferr’d their gifts to charm, - For man’s inventive race, this beauteous harm. - When now the Sire had form’d this mischief fair, - He bade heaven’s messenger convey through air - To Epimetheus’ hands th’ inextricable snare: - Nor he recall’d within his heedless thought - The warning lesson by Prometheus taught: - That he disclaim each present from the skies, - And straight restore, lest ill to man arise: - But he received; and conscious knew too late - Th’ insidious gift, and felt the curse of fate. - On earth of yore the sons of men abode, - From evil free and labour’s galling load: - Free from diseases that with racking rage - Precipitate the pale decline of age. - Now swift the days of manhood haste away, - And misery’s pressure turns the temples gray. - The woman’s hands an ample casket bear; - She lifts the lid; she scatters ills in air. - Within [40]th’ unbroken vase Hope sole remained, - Beneath the vessel’s rim from flight detained: - The maid, by counsels of cloud-gathering Jove, - The coffer seal’d and dropp’d the lid above. - Issued the rest in quick dispersion hurl’d, - And woes innumerous roam’d the breathing world: - With ills the land is rife, with ills the sea, - Diseases haunt our frail humanity: - Through noon, through night [41]on casual wing they glide, - Silent, a voice the Power all-wise denied. - Thus mayst thou not elude th’ omniscient mind: - Now if thy thoughts be to my speech inclin’d, - I in brief phrase would other lore impart - Wisely and well: thou, grave it on thy heart. - When gods alike and mortals rose to birth, - A golden race th’ immortals form’d on earth - Of many-languaged men: they lived of old - When Saturn reign’d in heaven, an age of gold. - Like gods they lived, with calm untroubled mind; - Free from the toils and anguish of our kind: - Nor e’er decrepid age mishaped their frame, - The hand’s, the foot’s proportions still the same. - Strangers to ill, their lives in feasts flow’d by: - [42]Wealthy in flocks; dear to the blest on high: - Dying they sank in sleep, nor seem’d to die. - Theirs was each good; the life-sustaining soil - Yielded its copious fruits, unbribed by toil: - They with abundant goods midst quiet lands - All willing shared the gatherings of their hands. - When earth’s dark womb had closed this race around, - [43]High Jove as dæmons raised them from the ground. - Earth-wandering spirits they their charge began, - The ministers of good, and guards of man. - Mantled with mist of darkling air they glide, - And compass earth, and pass on every side: - And mark with earnest vigilance of eyes - Where just deeds live, or crooked wrongs arise: - [44]Their kingly state; and, delegate from heaven, - By their vicarious hands [45]the wealth of fields is given. - The gods then form’d a second race of man, - Degenerate far; and silver years began. - Unlike the mortals of a golden kind: - Unlike in frame of limbs and mould of mind. - Yet still [46]a hundred years beheld the boy - Beneath the mother’s roof, her infant joy; - All tender and unform’d: but when the flower - Of manhood bloom’d, it wither’d in an hour. - Their frantic follies wrought them pain and woe: - Nor mutual outrage could their hands forego: - Nor would they serve the gods: nor altars raise - That in just cities shed their holy blaze. - Them angry Jove ingulf’d; who dared refuse - The gods their glory and their sacred dues: - Yet named the second-blest in earth they lie, - And second honours grace their memory. - The Sire of heaven and earth created then - A race, the third of many-languaged men. - Unlike the silver they: of brazen mould: - With ashen war-spears terrible and bold: - Their thoughts were bent on violence alone, - The deeds of battle and the dying groan. - Bloody their feasts, with wheaten food unblest: - Of adamant was each unyielding breast. - Huge, nerved with strength each hardy giant stands, - And mocks approach with unresisted hands: - Their mansions, implements, and armour shine - In brass; dark iron slept within the mine. - They by each other’s hands inglorious fell, - In freezing darkness plunged, the house of hell: - Fierce though they were, their mortal course was run; - Death gloomy seized, and snatch’d them from the sun. - Them when th’ abyss had cover’d from the skies, - Lo! the fourth age on nurturing earth arise: - Jove form’d the race a better, juster line; - A race of heroes and of stamp divine: - Lights of the age that rose before our own; - As demi-gods o’er earth’s wide regions known. - Yet these dread battle hurried to their end: - Some where the seven-fold gates of Thebes ascend: - The Cadmian realm: where they with fatal might - Strove for the flocks of Œdipus in fight. - Some war in navies led [47]to Troy’s far shore; - O’er the great space of sea their course they bore; - For sake of Helen with the beauteous hair: - And death for Helen’ sake o’erwhelm’d them there. - Them on earth’s utmost verge the god assign’d - A life, a seat, distinct from human kind: - Beside the deepening whirlpools of the main, - [48]In those blest isles where Saturn holds his reign, - Apart from heaven’s immortals: calm they share - A rest unsullied by the clouds of care: - And yearly thrice with sweet luxuriance crown’d - Springs the ripe harvest from the teeming ground. - Oh would that Nature had denied me birth - Midst this fifth race; [49]this iron age of earth: - That long before within the grave I lay, - Or long hereafter could behold the day! - Corrupt the race, with toils and griefs opprest, - Nor day nor night can yield a pause of rest. - Still do the gods a weight of care bestow, - Though still some good is mingled with the woe. - Jove on this race of many-languaged man, - Speeds the swift ruin which but slow began: - [50]For scarcely spring they to the light of day - Ere age untimely strews their temples gray. - No fathers in the sons their features trace: - The sons reflect no more the father’s face: - The host with kindness greets his guest no more, - And friends and brethren love not as of yore. - Reckless of heaven’s revenge, the sons behold - The hoary parents wax too swiftly old: - And impious point the keen dishonouring tongue - With hard reproofs and bitter mockeries hung: - Nor grateful in declining age repay - The nurturing fondness of their better day. - [51]Now man’s right hand is law: for spoil they wait, - And lay their mutual cities desolate: - Unhonour’d he, by whom his oath is fear’d, - Nor are the good beloved, the just revered. - With favour graced the evil-doer stands, - Nor curbs with shame nor equity his hands: - With crooked slanders wounds the virtuous man, - And stamps with perjury what hate began. - Lo! ill-rejoicing Envy, wing’d with lies, - Scattering calumnious rumours as she flies, - The steps of miserable men pursue - With haggard aspect, blasting to the view. - Till those fair forms in snowy raiment bright - [52]Leave the broad earth and heaven-ward soar from sight: - Justice and Modesty from mortals driven, - Rise to th’ immortal family of heaven: - Dread sorrows to forsaken man remain; - No cure of ills: no remedy of pain. - [53]Now unto kings I frame the fabling song, - However wisdom unto kings belong. - A stooping hawk, crook-talon’d, from the vale - Bore in his pounce [54]a neck-streak’d nightingale, - And snatch’d among the clouds: beneath the stroke - This piteous shriek’d, and that imperious spoke: - “Wretch! why these screams? a stronger holds thee now: - Where’er I shape my course a captive thou, - Maugre thy song, must company my way: - I rend my banquet or I loose my prey. - Senseless is he who dares with power contend: - Defeat, rebuke, despair shall be his end.” - The swift hawk spake, with wings spread wide in air; - But thou to justice cleave, and wrong forbear. - Wrong, if he yield to its abhorr’d controul, - Shall pierce like iron in the poor man’s soul: - Wrong weighs the rich man’s conscience to the dust, - When his foot stumbles on the way unjust: - Far diff’rent is the path; a path of light, - That guides the feet to equitable right. - The end of righteousness, enduring long, - Exceeds the short prosperity of wrong. - [55]The fool by suffering his experience buys; - The penalty of folly makes him wise. - With crooked judgments, lo! the oath’s dread God - Avenging runs, and tracks them where they trod: - Rough are the ways of Justice as the sea; - Dragg’d to and fro by men’s corrupt decree: - Bribe-pamper’d men! whose hands perverting draw - The right aside, and warp the wrested law. - Though, while corruption on their sentence waits, - They thrust pale Justice from their haughty gates; - Invisible their steps the virgin treads, - And musters evils o’er their sinful heads. - She with the dark of air her form arrays - And [56]walks in awful grief the city-ways: - Her wail is heard, her tear upbraiding falls - [57]O’er their stain’d manners, their devoted walls. - But they who never from the right have stray’d, - Who as the citizen the stranger aid; - [58]They and their cities flourish: genial Peace - Dwells in their borders, and their youth increase: - Nor Jove, whose radiant eyes behold afar, - Hangs forth in heaven the signs of grievous war. - Nor scathe nor famine on the righteous prey; - Feasts, strewn by earth, employ their easy day: - Rich are their mountain oaks: the topmost trees - With clustering acorns full, the trunks with hiving bees. - Burthen’d with fleece their panting flocks: the race - Of woman soft [59]reflects the father’s face: - Still flourish they, nor tempt with ships the main; - The fruits of earth are pour’d from every plain. - But o’er the wicked race, to whom belong - The thought of evil, and the deed of wrong, - Saturnian Jove of wide-beholding eyes - Bids the dark signs of retribution rise: - And oft the crimes of one destructive fall: - The crimes of one are visited on all. - The god sends down his angry plagues from high, - Famine and pestilence: in heaps they die. - He smites with barrenness the marriage-bed, - And generations moulder with the dead: - Again in vengeance of his wrath he falls - On their great hosts, and breaks their tottering walls: - Arrests their navies on the ocean’s plain, - And whelms their strength with mountains of the main. - Ponder, oh judges! in your inmost thought - The retribution by his vengeance wrought. - Invisible, the gods are ever nigh, - Pass through the midst, and bend th’ all-seeing eye: - The men who grind the poor, who wrest the right, - Awless of heaven’s revenge, stand naked to their sight. - For thrice ten thousand [60]holy demons rove - This breathing world, the delegates of Jove. - Guardians of man, [61]their glance alike surveys - The upright judgments and th’ unrighteous ways. - A virgin pure is Justice: and her birth, - August, from him who rules the heavens and earth: - A creature glorious to the gods on high, - Whose mansion is yon everlasting sky. - Driven by despiteful wrong she takes her seat - In lowly grief at Jove’s eternal feet. - There of the soul unjust her plaints ascend: - [62]So rue the nations when their kings offend: - When uttering wiles and brooding thoughts of ill, - They bend the laws and wrest them to their will. - Oh gorged with gold! ye kingly judges hear! - Make straight your paths: your crooked judgments fear: - That the foul record may no more be seen, - Erased, forgotten, as it ne’er had been! - He wounds himself that aims another’s wound: - His evil counsels on himself rebound. - Jove at his awful pleasure looks from high - With all-discerning and all-knowing eye; - Nor hidden from its ken what injured right - Within the city-walls eludes the light. - Or oh! if evil wait the righteous deed, - If thus the wicked gain the righteous meed, - Then may not I, nor yet my son remain - In this our generation just in vain! - But sure my hope, not this doth Heaven approve, - Not this the work of thunder-darting Jove. - Deep let my words, oh Perses! graven be: - Hear Justice, and renounce th’ oppressor’s plea: - This law the wisdom of the god assign’d - To human race and to the bestial kind: - To birds of air and fishes of the wave, - And beasts of earth, devouring instinct gave - In them no justice lives: he bade be known - This better sense to reasoning man alone. - Who from the seat of judgment shall impart - The truths of knowledge utter’d from his heart; - On him the god of all-discerning eye - [63]Pours down the treasures of felicity. - Who sins against the right, his wilful tongue - With perjuries of lying witness hung; - Lo! he is hurt beyond the hope of cure: - Dark is his race, nor shall his name endure. - Who fears his oath shall leave a name to shine - With brightening lustre through his latest line. - Most foolish Perses! let the truths I tell, - Which spring from knowledge, in thy bosom dwell: - Lo! wickednesses rife in troops appear; - [64]Smooth is the track of vice, the mansion near: - On virtue’s path delays and perils grow: - The gods have placed before [65]the sweat that bathes the brow: - And ere the foot can reach her high abode, - Long, rugged, steep th’ ascent, and rough the road. - The ridge once gain’d, the path so rude of late - Runs easy on, and level to the gate. - Far best is he whom conscious wisdom guides; - Who first and last the right and fit decides: - He too is good, that [66]to the wiser friend - His docile reason can submissive bend: - But worthless he that reason’s voice defies, - Nor wise himself, nor duteous to the wise. - But thou, oh Perses! what my words impart - Let mem’ry bind for ever on thy heart. - [67]Oh son of Dios! labour evermore, - That hunger turn abhorrent from thy door; - That Ceres blest, with spiky garland crown’d, - Greet thee with love and bid thy barns abound. - [68]Still on the sluggard hungry want attends, - The scorn of man, the hate of heaven impends: - While he, averse from labour, drags his days, - Yet greedy on the gain of others preys: - Even as the stingless drones devouring seize - With glutted sloth the harvest of the bees. - Love ev’ry seemly toil, that so the store - Of foodful seasons heap thy garner’s floor. - From labour men returns of wealth behold; - Flocks in their fields and in their coffers gold: - From labour shalt thou with the love be blest - Of men and gods; the slothful they detest. - Not toil, but sloth shall ignominious be; - Toil, and the slothful man shall envy thee; - Shall view thy growing wealth with alter’d sense, - For glory, virtue walk with opulence. - Thou, like a god, since labour still is found - The better part, shalt live belov’d, renown’d; - If, as I counsel, thou thy witless mind, - Though weak and empty as the veering wind, - From others’ coveted possessions turn’d, - To thrift compel, and food by labour earn’d. - [69]Shame, which our aid or injury we find, - Shame to the needy clings of evil kind; - Shame to low indigence declining tends: - Bold zeal to wealth’s proud pinnacle ascends. - [70]But shun extorted riches; oh far best - The heaven-sent wealth without reproach possest. - Whoe’er shall mines of hoarded gold command, - By fraudful tongue or by rapacious hand; - As oft betides when lucre lights the flame, - And shamelessness expels the better shame; - Him shall the god cast down, in darkness hurl’d, - His name, his offspring wasted from the world: - The goods for which he pawn’d his soul decay, - The breath and shining bubble of a day. - Alike the man of sin is he confest, - [71]Who spurns the suppliant and who wrongs the guest; - Who climbs, by lure of stolen embraces led, - With ill-timed act, a brother’s marriage bed; - Who dares by crafty wickedness abuse - His trust, and robs the orphans of their dues; - Who, on the threshold of afflictive age, - His hoary parent stings with taunting rage: - On him shall Jove in anger look from high, - And deep requite the dark iniquity: - But wholly thou from these refrain thy mind, - Weak as it is, and wavering as the wind. - With thy best means perform the ritual part, - Outwardly pure and spotless at the heart, - And on thy altar let unblemish’d thighs - In fragrant savour to th’ immortals rise. - Or thou in other sort may’st well dispense - Wine-offerings and the smoke of frankincense, - Ere on the nightly couch thy limbs be laid; - Or when the stars from sacred sun-rise fade. - So shall thy piety accepted move - Their heavenly natures to propitious love: - Ne’er shall thy heritage divided be, - But others part their heritage to thee. - Let friends oft bidden to thy feast repair; - Let not a foe the social moment share. - Chief to thy open board the neighbour call: - When, unforeseen, domestic troubles fall, - The neighbour runs ungirded; kinsmen wait, - And, lingering for their raiment, hasten late. - As the good neighbour is our prop and stay, - So is the bad a pit-fall in our way. - Thus blest or curs’d, we this or that obtain, - The first a blessing and the last a bane. - How should thine ox by chance untimely die? - The evil neighbour looks and passes by. - [72]If aught thou borrowest, well the measure weigh; - The same good measure to thy friend repay, - Or more, if more thou canst, unask’d concede, - So shall he prompt supply thy future need. - Usurious gains avoid; usurious gain, - Equivalent to loss, will prove thy bane. - [73]Who loves thee, love; him woo that friendly wooes: - Give to the giver, but to him refuse - That giveth not; their gifts the generous earn; - But none bestows where never is return. - Munificence is blest: by heaven accurst - Extortion, of death-dealing plagues the worst. - Who bounteous gives though large his bounty flow, - Shall feel his heart with inward rapture glow: - Th’ extortioner of bold unblushing sin, - Though small the plunder, feels a thorn within. - If with a little thou a little blend - Continual, mighty shall the heap ascend. - Who bids his gather’d substance gradual grow - Shall see not livid hunger’s face of woe. - No bosom-pang attends the home-laid store, - But rife with loss the food without thy door: - ’Tis good to take from hoards, and pain to need - What is far from thee: give the precept heed. - When broach’d or at the lees, no care be thine - To save the cask, but [74]spare the middle wine. - To him the friend that serves thee glad dispense - With bounteous hand the meed of recompense. - Not on a brother’s plighted word rely, - But, [75]as in laughter, set a witness by; - Mistrust destroys us and credulity. - Let no fair woman tempt thy sliding mind - [76]With garment gather’d in a knot behind; - She [77]prattling with gay speech inquires thy home; - But trust a woman, and a thief is come. - One only son his father’s house may tend, - And e’en with one domestic hoards ascend: - Then mayst thou leave a second son behind: - For many sons from heaven shall wealth obtain; - The care is greater, greater is the gain. - Do thus: if riches be thy soul’s desire, - By toils on toils to this thy hope aspire. - - -II. - - When, Atlas-born, the Pleiad stars [78]arise - Before the sun above the dawning skies, - ’Tis time to reap; and when they sink below - The morn-illumined west, [79]’tis time to sow. - Know too they set, immerged into the sun, - While forty days entire their circle run; - And with the lapse of the revolving year, - When sharpen’d is the sickle, re-appear. - Law of the fields, and known to every swain - Who turns the fallow soil beside the main; - Or who, remote from billowy ocean’s gales, - Tills the rich glebe of inland-winding vales. - [80]Plough naked still, and naked sow the soil, - And naked reap; if kindly to thy toil - Thou hope to gather all that Ceres yields, - And view thy crops in season crown the fields; - Lest thou to strangers’ gates penurious rove, - And every needy effort fruitless prove: - E’en as to me thou cam’st; but hope no more - That I shall give or lend thee of my store. - Oh foolish Perses! be the labours thine - Which the good gods to earthly man assign; - Lest with thy spouse, thy babes, thou vagrant ply, - And sorrowing crave those alms which all deny. - Twice may thy plaints benignant favour gain, - And haply thrice may not be pour’d in vain; - If still persisting plead thy wearying prayer, - Thy words are nought, thy eloquence is air. - Did exhortation move, the thought should be, - From debt releasement, days from hunger free. - A house, a woman, and a steer provide, - Thy slave to tend the cows, but not thy bride. - Within let all fit implements abound, - Lest with refused entreaty wandering round, - Thy wants still press, the season glide away, - And thou with scanted labour mourn the day. - Thy task defer not till the morn arise, - Or the third sun th’ unfinish’d work surprise. - [81]The idler never shall his garners fill, - Nor he that still defers and lingers still. - Lo! diligence can prosper every toil; - The loiterer strives with loss and execrates the soil. - When rests the keen strength of th’ o’erpowering sun - From heat that made the pores in rivers run; - When rushes in fresh rains autumnal Jove, - And man’s unburthen’d limbs now lightlier move; - For now the star of day with transient light - Rolls o’er our heads and joys in longer night; - When from the worm the forest boles are sound, - [82]Trees bud no more, but earthward cast around - Their withering foliage, then remember well - The timely labour, and thy timber fell. - Hew from the wood [83]a mortar of three feet; - Three cubits may the pestle’s length complete: - Seven feet the fittest axle-tree extends; - If eight the log, the eighth a mallet lends. - Cleave many curved blocks thy wheel to round, - And let three spans its outmost orbit bound; - Whereon slow-rolling thy suspended wain, - Ten spans in breadth, may traverse firm the plain. - If hill or field supply a holm-oak bough - [84]Of bending figure like the downward plough, - Bear it away: this durable remains - While the strong steers in ridges cleave the plains: - If with firm nails [85]thy artist join the whole, - Affix the share-beam, and adapt the pole. - Two ploughs provide, on household works intent, - This art-compacted, that of native bent: - A prudent fore-thought: one may crashing fail, - The other, instant yoked, shall prompt avail. - Of elm or bay the draught-pole firm endures, - The plough-tail holm, the share-beam oak secures. - Two males procure: be nine their sum of years: - Then hale and strong for toil the sturdy steers: - Nor shall they headstrong-struggling spurn the soil, - And snap the plough and mar th’ unfinish’d toil. - In forty’s prime thy ploughman: one [86]with bread - Of four-squared loaf in double portions fed. - He steadily shall cut the furrow true, - Nor towards his fellows glance a rambling view: - Still on his task intent: a stripling throws - Heedless the seed, and in one furrow strows - The lavish handful twice: while wistful stray - His longing thoughts to comrades far away. - Mark yearly when among the clouds on high - Thou hear’st [87]the shrill crane’s migratory cry, - [88]Of ploughing-time the sign and wintry rains: - Care gnaws his heart who destitute remains - Of the fit yoke: for then the season falls - To feed thy horned steers within their stalls. - Easy to speak the word, “beseech thee friend! - Thy waggon and thy yoke of oxen lend:” - Easy the prompt refusal; “nay, but I - Have need of oxen, and their work is nigh.” - [89]Rich in his own conceit, he then too late - May think to rear the waggon’s timber’d weight: - Fool! nor yet knows the complicated frame - A hundred season’d blocks may fitly claim: - [90]These let thy timely care provide before, - And pile beneath thy roof the ready store. - Improve the season: to the plough apply - Both thou and thine; and toil in wet and dry: - Haste to the field with break of glimmering morn, - That so thy grounds may wave with thickening corn. - In spring upturn the glebe: and break again - With summer tilth the iterated plain, - It shall not mock thy hopes: be last thy toil, - Raised in light ridge, to sow the fallow’d soil: - The fallow’d soil bids execration fly, - And brightens with content the infant’s eye. - [91]Jove subterrene, chaste Ceres claim thy vow, - When grasping first the handle of the plough, - O’er thy broad oxen’s backs thy quickening hand - With lifted stroke lets fall the goading wand; - Whilst yoked and harness’d by the fastening thong, - They slowly drag the draught-pole’s length along. - So shall the sacred gifts of earth appear, - And ripe luxuriance clothe the plenteous ear. - A boy should tread thy steps: with rake o’erlay - The buried seed, [92]and scare the birds away: - (Good is the apt œconomy of things - While evil management its mischief brings:) - Thus, if aërial Jove thy cares befriend, - And crown thy tillage with a prosperous end, - Shall the rich ear in fulness of its grain - Nod on the stalk and bend it to the plain. - So shalt thou sweep the spider’s films away, - That round thy hollow bins lie hid from day: - I ween, rejoicing in the foodful stores - Obtain’d at length, and laid within thy doors: - For plenteousness shall glad thee through the year - Till the white blossoms of the spring appear: - [93]Nor thou on others’ heaps a gazer be, - But others owe their borrow’d store to thee. - If, ill-advised, thou turn the genial plains - His wintry tropic when the sun attains; - Thou, then, may’st reap, and idle sit between: - Mocking thy gripe the meagre stalks are seen: - Whilst, little joyful, gather’st thou in bands - The corn whose chaffy dust bestrews thy hands. - In one scant basket shall thy harvest lie, - [94]And few shall pass thee, then, with honouring eye. - Now thus, now otherwise is Jove’s design; - To men inscrutable the ways divine: - But if thou late upturn the furrow’d field, - One happy chance a remedy may yield. - O’er the wide earth when men the cuckoo hear - From spreading oak-leaves first delight their ear, - Three days and nights let heaven in ceaseless rains - Deep as thy ox’s hoof o’erflow the plains; - So shall an equal crop thy time repair - With his who earlier launch’d the shining share. - Lay all to heart: nor let the blossom’d hours - Of spring escape thee; nor the timely showers. - Pass by [95]the brazier’s forge where loiterers meet, - Nor saunter in the portico’s throng’d heat; - When in the wintry season rigid cold - Invades the limbs and binds them in its hold. - Lo! then th’ industrious man with thriving store - Improves his household management the more: - And this do thou: lest intricate distress - Of winter seize, and needy cares oppress: - Lest, famine-smitten, thou, at length, be seen - [96]To gripe thy tumid foot with hand from hunger lean. - Pampering his empty hopes, yet needing food, - On ill designs behold the idler brood: - Sit in the crowded portico and feed - On that ill hope, while starving with his need. - Thou in mid-summer to thy labourers cry, - [97]“Make now your nests,” for summer hours will fly. - Beware the January month: beware - Those hurtful days, that keenly piercing air - Which flays the herds; [98]those frosts that bitter sheathe - The nipping air and glaze the ground beneath. - From Thracia, nurse of steeds, comes rushing forth, - O’er the broad sea, the whirlwind of the north, - And moves it with his breath: then howl the shores - Of earth, and long and loud the forest roars. - He lays the oaks of lofty foliage low, - Tears the thick pine-trees from the mountains brow - And strews the vallies with their overthrow. - He stoops to earth; shrill swells the storm around, - And all the vast wood rolls a deeper roar of sound. - The beasts their cowering tails with trembling fold, - And shrink and shudder at the gusty cold. - Thick is the hairy coat, the shaggy skin, - But that all-chilling breath shall pierce within. - Not his rough hide can then the ox avail: - The long-hair’d goat defenceless feels the gale: - Yet vain the north-wind’s rushing strength to wound - The flock, with thickening fleeces fenced around. - He bows the old man, crook’d beneath the storm; - But spares the smooth-skin’d virgin’s tender form. - [99]Yet from bland Venus’ mystic rites aloof, - She safe abides beneath her mother’s roof: - The suppling waters of the bath she swims, - [100]With shining ointment sleeks her dainty limbs: - In her soft chamber pillow’d to repose, - While through the wintry nights the tempest blows. - [101]Now gnaws the boneless polypus his feet; - Starved midst bleak rocks, his desolate retreat: - For now no more the sun with gleaming ray - Through seas transparent lights him to his prey. - O’er the swarth Æthiop rolls his bright career, - And slowly gilds the Grecian hemisphere. - And now the horned and unhorned kind - Whose lair is in the wood, sore-famish’d grind - Their sounding jaws, and froz’n and quaking fly - Where oaks the mountain dells imbranch on high: - They seek to couch in thickets of the glen, - Or lurk deep-shelter’d in the rocky den. - [102]Like aged men who, prop’d on crutches, tread - Tottering with broken strength and stooping head, - So move the beasts of earth; and creeping low - Shun the white flakes and dread the drifting snow. - I warn thee, now, around thy body cast, - A thick defence, and covering from the blast: - Let the soft cloak its woolly warmth bestow: - The under-tunic to thy ankle flow: - [103]On a scant warp a woof abundant weave; - Thus warmly wov’n the mantling cloak receive: - Nor shall thy limbs beneath its ample fold - With bristling hairs start shivering to the cold. - Shoes from the hide of [104]a strong-dying ox - Bind round thy feet; lined thick with woollen socks: - [105]And kid-skins ’gainst the rigid season sew - With sinew of the bull, and sheltering throw - Athwart thy shoulders when the rains impend; - And let [106]a well-wrought cap thy head defend, - And screen thine ears, while drenching showers descend. - Bleak is the morn, when blows the north from high; - Oft when the dawnlight paints the starry sky, - A misty cloud suspended hovers o’er - Heaven’s blessed earth with fertilizing store - Drain’d from the living streams: aloft in air - The whirling winds the buoyant vapour bear, - Resolved at eve in rain or gusty cold, - As by the north the troubled rack is roll’d. - Preventing this, the labour of the day - Accomplish’d, homeward bend thy hastening way: - Lest the dark cloud, with whelming rush deprest, - Drench thy cold limbs and soak thy dripping vest. - This winter-month with prudent caution fear: - Severe to flocks, nor less to men severe: - Feed thy keen husbandman with larger bread: - With half their provender thy steers be fed: - Them rest assists: the night’s protracted length - Recruits their vigour and supplies their strength. - This rule observe, while still the various earth - Gives every fruit and kindly seedling birth: - Still to the toil proportionate the cheer, - The day to night, and equalize the year. - When from [107]the wintry tropic of the sun - Full sixty days their finish’d round have run, - Lo! then the sacred deep Arcturus leave, - First whole-apparent on the verge of eve. - Through the grey dawn the swallow lifts her wing, - Morn-plaining bird, the harbinger of spring. - Anticipate the time: the care be thine - An earlier day to prune the shooting vine. - When the house-bearing snail is slowly found - To shun the Pleiad heats that scorch the ground, - And climb the plant’s tall stem, insist no more - To dress the vine, but give the vineyard o’er. - Whet the keen sickle, hasten every swain, - From shady booths, from morning sleep refrain; - Now, in the fervour of the harvest-day, - When the strong sun dissolves the frame away: - Now haste a-field: now bind thy sheafy corn, - And earn thy food by rising with the morn. - Lo! the third portion of thy labour’s cares - The early morn anticipating shares: - In early morn the labour swiftly wastes: - In early morn the speeded journey hastes; - The time when many a traveller tracks the plain, - And the yoked oxen bend them to the wain. - When [108]the green artichoke ascending flowers, - When, in the sultry season’s toilsome hours, - Perch’d on a branch, beneath his veiling wings - [109]The loud cicada shrill and frequent sings: - [110]Then the plump goat a savoury food bestows, - The poignant wine in mellowest flavour flows: - Wanton the blood then bounds in woman’s veins, - [111]But weak of man the heat-enfeebled reins: - Full on his brain descends the solar flame - Unnerves the languid knees, and all the frame - Exhaustive dries away: oh then be thine - To sit in shade of rocks; with [112]Byblian wine, - And goat’s milk, stinted from the kid, to slake - Thy thirst, and eat the shepherd’s creamy cake; - The flesh of new-dropt kids and youngling cows, - That, never teeming, cropp’d the forest browse. - With dainty food so saturate thy soul, - And drink the wine dark-mantling in the bowl: - While in the cool and breezy gloom reclined - Thy face is turn’d to catch the breathing wind; - And feel the freshening brook, whose living stream - Glides at thy foot with clear and sparkling gleam: - Three parts its waters in thy cup should flow, - The fourth with brimming wine may mingled glow. - When first [113]Orion’s beamy strength is born, - Let then thy labourers thresh the sacred corn: - Smooth be the level floor, [114]on gusty ground, - Where winnowing gales may sweep in eddies round. - Hoard in thy ample bins the meted grain: - And now, as I advise, [115]thy hireling swain - From forth thy house dismiss, when all the store - Of kindly food is laid within thy door: - And to thy service let a female come; - But childless, for a child were burthensome. - [116]Keep, too, a sharp-tooth’d dog, nor thrifty spare - To feed his fierceness high with generous fare: - Lest the day-slumbering thief thy nightly door - Wakeful besiege, and pilfer from thy store. - For ox and mule the yearly fodder lay - Within thy loft; the heapy straw and hay: - This care dispatch’d, refresh the bending knees - Of thy tired hinds, and give thy unyoked oxen ease. - When Sirius and Orion the mid-sky - Ascend, and [117]on Arcturus looks from high - The rosy-finger’d morn, the vintage calls: - Then bear the gather’d grapes within thy walls. - Ten days and nights exposed the clusters lay - Bask’d in the lustre of each mellowing day: - Let five their circling round successive run, - Whilst lie thy frails o’ershaded from the sun: - The sixth in vats the gifts of Bacchus press; - Of Bacchus gladdening earth with store of pleasantness. - But when beneath the skies [118]on morning’s brink - The Pleiads, Hyads, and Orion sink; - Know then the ploughing and the seed-time near: - Thus well-disposed shall glide thy rustic year. - But if thy breast with nautical desire - The perilous deep’s uncertain gains inspire, - When chased by strong Orion down the heaven - Sink the seven stars in gloomy ocean driven; - [119]Then varying winds in gustful eddies roar: - Then to [120]black ocean trust thy ships no more: - But heedful care to this my caution yield, - And, as I bid thee, labour safe the field. - Hale on firm land the ship: with stones made fast - Against the staggering force of humid-blowing blast: - Draw from its keel the peg, lest rotting rain - Suck’d in the hollow of the hold remain: - Within thy house the tackling order’d be. - And furl thy vessel’s wings that skimm’d the sea: - The well-framed rudder in the smoke suspend, - And calm and navigable seas attend. - Then launch the rapid bark: fit cargo load, - And freighted rich repass the liquid road. - Oh witness Perses! thus for honest gain, - Thus did our mutual father plough the main. - Erst, from Æolian Cuma’s distant shore, - Hither in sable ship his course he bore; - Through the wide seas his venturous way he took; - No rich revenues; prosperous ease forsook: - His wandering course from poverty began, - The visitation sent from heaven to man: - Ascra’s sad hamlet he his dwelling chose - Where nigh impending Helicon arose: - [121]In summer irksome and in winter drear, - Nor ever genial through the joyless year. - Each labour, Perses! let the seasons guide: - But o’er thy navigation chief preside: - [122]Decline a slender bark: intrust thy freight - To the strong vessel of a larger rate: - The larger cargo doubles every gain, - Let but the winds their adverse blasts restrain. - If thy rash thoughts on merchandise be placed, - Lest debts ensnare or joyless hunger waste, - Learn now the courses of the roaring sea, - Though ships and voyages are strange to me. - Ne’er [123]o’er the sea’s broad way my course I bore - Save once from Aulis to th’ Eubœan shore: - From Aulis, where the Greeks in days of yore, - The winds awaiting, kept the harbouring shore: - From sacred Greece a mighty army there - Lay bound for Troy, wide famed for women fair. - I pass’d to Chalcis, where around the grave - Of king Amphidamus, in combat brave, - His valiant sons had solemn games decreed, - And heralds loud proclaim’d full many a meed: - There, let me boast, that victor in the lay - I bore a tripod ear’d, my prize, away: - This to the maids of Helicon I vow’d - [124]Where first their tuneful inspiration flow’d. - Thus far in ships does my experience rise; - Yet bold I speak the wisdom of the skies; - Th’ inspiring Muses to my lips have given - The lore of song, and strains that breathe of heaven. - [125]When from the summer-tropic fifty days - Have roll’d, when summer’s time of toil decays: - Then is the season fair to spread the sail: - Nor then thy ship shall founder in the gale - And seas o’erwhelm the crew: unless the Power, - Who shakes the shores with waves, have will’d their mortal hour: - Or he th’ immortals’ king require their breath, - Whose hands the issues hold of life and death - For good and evil men: but now the seas - Are dangerless, and clear the calmy breeze. - Then trust the winds, and let thy vessel sweep - With all her freight the level of the deep. - But rapidly retrace thy homeward way - Nor till the season of new wine delay: - Late autumn’s torrent showers: bleak winter’s sweep: - The south-blast ruffling strong the tossing deep: - When air comes rushing in autumnal rain, - And curls with many a ridge the troubled main. - [126]Men, too, may sail in spring: when first the crow - Imprinting with light steps the sands below, - As many thinly-scatter’d leaves are seen - To clothe the fig-tree’s top with tender green. - This vernal voyage practicable seems, - And pervious are the boundless ocean-streams: - I praise it not: for thou with anxious mind - Must hasty snatch th’ occasion of the wind. - The drear event may baffle all thy care; - Yet thus, even thus, will human folly dare. - Of wretched mortals lo! the soul is gain: - But death is dreadful midst the whelming main. - These counsels lay to heart; and, warn’d by me, - Trust not thy whole precarious wealth to sea, - Tost in the hollow keel: a portion send; - Thy larger substance let the shore defend. - Wretched the losses of the ocean fall, - When on a fragile plank embark’d thy all: - And wretched when thy sheaves o’erload the wain, - And the crash’d axle spoils the scatter’d grain. - The golden mean of conduct should confine - Our every aim; be moderation thine. - Take to thy house a woman for thy bride - When in the ripeness of thy manhood’s pride: - Thrice ten thy sum of years; the nuptial prime; - Nor fall far short, nor far exceed the time. - Four years the ripening virgin should consume, - [127]And wed the fifth of her expanded bloom. - A virgin choose: and mould her manners chaste: - Chief be some neighbouring maid by thee embraced: - Look circumspect and long: lest thou be found - The merry mock of all the dwellers round. - No better lot has Providence assign’d - Than a fair woman with a virtuous mind: - Nor can a worse befall, then when thy fate - Allots a worthless, feast-contriving mate: - She, with no torch of mere material flame, - Shall burn to tinder thy care-wasted frame: - [128]Shall send a fire thy vigorous bones within, - And age unripe in bloom of years begin. - Th’ unsleeping vengeance heed of heaven on high.— - None as a friend should with a brother vie: - But if like him thou hold another dear, - Let no offences on thy side appear: - [129]Nor lie with idle tongue: if he begin - Offence of word and deed, [130]chastise his sin - Once for each act and word; but if he grieve, - And make atonement, straight his love receive: - Wretched! his friends who changes to and fro! - Let not thy face thy mind’s deep secrets show. - Be not the host of many nor of none: - The good revile not, and the wicked shun. - [131]Rebuke not want, that wastes the spirit dry; - It is the gift of blessed gods on high. - [132]Lo! the best treasure is a frugal tongue: - The lips of moderate speech with grace are hung: - The evil-speaker shall perpetual fear - Return of evil ringing in his ear. - [133]When many guests combine in common fare - Be not morose nor grudge thy liberal share: - When all contributing the feast unite, - Great is the pleasure and the cost is light. - When the libation of the morn demands - The sable wine, forbear with unwash’d hands - To lift the cup: with ear averted Jove - Shall spurn thy prayer, and every god above. - Forbear to let your water flow away - Turn’d upright tow’rds the sun’s all-seeing ray: - E’en when his splendour sets, till morn has glow’d - Take heed; nor sprinkle, as you walk, the road, - Nor the road-side; nor bare affront the sight; - For there are gods who watch and guard the night. - The holy man discreet sits decently, - And to some sheep-fold’s fenced wall draws nigh. - From rites of love unclean the hearth forbear, - Nor sit beside ungirt, for household gods are there. - Leave not the funeral feast to sow thy race; - From the gods’ banquet seek thy bride’s embrace. - Whene’er thy feet the river-ford essay, - Whose flowing current winds its limpid way, - Thy hands amidst the pleasant waters lave, - And lowly gazing on the beauteous wave - Appease the river-god: if thou perverse - Pass with unsprinkled hands, a heavy curse - Shall rest upon thee from th’ observant skies, - And after-woes retributive arise. - When in the fane [134]the feast of gods is laid, - [135]Ne’er to thy five-branch’d hand apply the blade - Of sable iron; from the fresh forbear - The dry excrescence at the board to pare. - Ne’er let thy hand the wine-filled flaggon rest - [136]Upon the goblet’s edge; th’ unwary guest - May from thy fault his own disaster drink, - For evil omens lurk around the brink. - Ne’er in the midst th’ unfinished house forego, - Lest there perch’d lonely croak the garrulous crow. - Ne’er from [137]unhallow’d vessels hasty feed, - Nor lave therein; for thou mayst rue the deed. - Set not a twelve-day or a twelve-month boy - [138]On moveless stones; they shall his strength destroy. - Ne’er in the female baths thy limbs immerse; - In its own time the guilt shall bring the curse. - Ne’er let the mystic sacrifices move - Deriding scorn; but dread indignant Jove. - Ne’er with unseemly deeds the fountains stain, - Or limpid rivers flowing to the main. - Do thus: and still with all thy dint of mind - Avoid that evil rumour of mankind; - Easy the burthen at the first to bear, - And light when lifted as impassive air; - But scarce can human strength the load convey, - Or shake th’ intolerable weight away. - Swift rumour hastes nor ever wholly dies, - But borne on nations’ tongues a very goddess flies. - - -_DAYS._ - - Thy household teach a decent heed to pay, - And well observe each Jove-appointed day. - [139]The thirtieth of the moon inspect with care - Thy servants’ tasks and all their rations share; - [140]What time the people to the courts repair. - These days obey the all-wise Jove’s behest: - The first new moon, the fourth, the seventh is blest: - Phœbus, on this, from mild Latona born, - The golden-sworded god, beheld the morn. - The eighth, nor less the ninth, with favouring skies, - Speeds of th’ increasing month each rustic enterprise; - And on th’ eleventh let thy flocks be shorn, - And on the twelfth be reap’d thy laughing corn: - Both days are good: yet is the twelfth confest - More fortunate, with fairer omen blest. - On this the air-suspended spider treads - In the full noon his fine and self-spun threads; - And the wise emmet, tracking dark the plain, - Heaps provident the store of gather’d grain. - On this let careful woman’s nimble hand - Throw first the shuttle and the web expand. - On the thirteenth forbear to sow the grain; - But then the plant shall not be set in vain. - The sixteenth profitless to plants is deem’d - Auspicious to the birth of men esteem’d; - But to the virgin shall unprosperous prove, - Then born to light or join’d in wedded love. - So to the birth of girls with adverse ray - The sixth appears, an unpropitious day: - But then the swain may fence his wattled fold, - And cut his kids and rams; male births shall then be bold. - This day is fond of biting gibes and lies, - And jocund tales and whisper’d sorceries. - Cut on the eighth the goat and lowing steer - And hardy mule; and when the noon shines clear, - Seek on the twenty-ninth to sow thy race, - For wise shall be the fruit of thy embrace. - The tenth propitious lends its natal ray - To men, to gentle maids the fourteenth day: - Tame too thy sheep on this auspicious morn, - And steers of flexile hoof and wreathed horn, - And labour-patient mules; and mild command - Thy sharp-tooth’d dog with smoothly flattering hand. - The fourth and twenty-fourth no grief should prey - Within thy breast, for holy either day. - Fourth of the moon lead home thy blooming bride, - And be the fittest auguries descried. - [141]Beware the fifth, with horror fraught and wo: - ’Tis said the furies walk their round below - Avenging the dread oath; whose awful birth - From discord rose, to scourge the perjured earth. - On the smooth threshing-floor, the seventeenth morn, - Observant throw the sheaves of sacred corn: - For chamber furniture the timber hew, - And blocks for ships with shaping axe subdue. - The fourth upon the stocks thy vessel lay, - Soon with light keel to skim the watery way. - The nineteenth mark among the better days - When past the fervour of the noon-tide blaze. - Harmless the ninth: ’tis good to plant the earth, - And fortunate each male and female birth. - Few know the twenty-ninth, nor heed the rules - To broach their casks, and yoke their steers and mules, - And fleet-hoof’d steeds; and on dark ocean’s way - Launch the oar’d galley; few will trust the day. - Pierce on the fourth thy cask; the fourteenth prize - As holy; and when morning paints the skies - The twenty-fourth is best; (few this have known;) - But worst of days when noon has fainter grown. - These are the days of which the careful heed - Each human enterprise will favouring speed: - Others there are, which intermediate fall, - Mark’d with no auspice and unomen’d all: - And these will some, and those will others praise, - But few are versed in mysteries of days. - In this a step-mother’s stern hate we prove, - In that the mildness of a mother’s love. - Oh fortunate the man! oh blest is he, - Who skill’d in these fulfils his ministry: - He to whose note the auguries are given, - No rite transgress’d, and void of blame to heav’n. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[27] _The bowed feeble rears._] This proem was wanting in the -leaden-sheeted copy, seen by Pausanias in Bœotia. The affinity with -scriptural language is remarkable. “The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich: -he bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, -and lifteth up the beggar from the dung-hill to set him among princes.” -Samuel v. 1, ch. 2. “God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth -up another. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up them that -be bowed down. The Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down -to the ground.” Psalms 75, 145, 147. I was originally led to suspect -that this introduction had been ingrafted on the poem by one of the -Alexandrian Jews; who were addicted to this kind of imposture; but it -is probably more ancient than the establishment of the Jewish colony -at Alexandria, under the Ptolemies. There is nothing conclusive to be -drawn from coincidences of this sort between ancient writings. The first -principles of morality, implanted in the human heart by its author, have -in all ages been the same: and Socrates and Confucius might be found -to agree, surely without any suspicion of imitation. Many passages of -Hesiod may be paralleled with verses in the Psalms and Proverbs: and in -the proem under consideration, there seem no grounds for the conjecture -of plagiarism from views of the vicissitudes of human condition, and the -ordinations of a ruling providence which are continually passing before -our eyes, and which must have struck the reasoning and serious part of -mankind in all ages. Horace has a similar passage: b. i. od. 34. - - The God by sudden turns of fate - Can change the lowest with the loftiest state: - Eclipse of glory the diminish’d ray, - And lift obscurity to day. - -Le Clerc conjectures this exordium to be the addition of one of the -rhapsodists: of whom Pindar says, Nem. Od. 2. - - Th’ Homeric bards, who wont to frame - A motley-woven verse, - Ere they the song rehearse, - Begin from Jove, and prelude with his name. - -[28] _The other elder rose._] Night is meant to be the mother of both the -Strifes. Guietus remarks that ευφρονη is a term for night: from ευφρονεω, -to be wise. She was the mother of wise designs, because favourable to -meditation: the mother of good, therefore, as well as of evil. The good -Strife is made the elder, because the evil one arose in the later and -degenerate ages of mankind. - -[29] _Almsmen zealous throng._] The proximity of the beggar to the bard -might in a modern writer convey a satirical innuendo, of which Hesiod -cannot be suspected. The bard, as is evident from Homer’s Odyssey, -enjoyed a sort of conventional hospitality, bestowed with reverence and -affection. It should seem, however, from this passage that the asker of -alms was not regarded in the light of a common mendicant with us. It was -a popular superstition that the gods often assumed similar characters -for the purpose of trying the benevolence of men. A noble incentive to -charity, which indicates the hospitable character of a semi-barbarous age. - -[30] _The patrimonial land._] The manner of inheritance in ancient Greece -was that of gavelkind: the sons dividing the patrimony in equal portions. -When there were children by a concubine, they also received a certain -proportion. This is illustrated by a passage in the 14th book of the -Odyssey: - - An humbler mate, - His purchased concubine, gave birth to me: - ... His illustrious sons among themselves - Portion’d his goods by lot: to me indeed - They gave a dwelling, and but little more. - - COWPER. - -[31] _The good which asphodel and mallows yield._] A similar sentiment -occurs in the Proverbs: “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than -a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” Ch. 15. v. 17. - -Plutarch in the “Banquet of the Seven Sages,” observes, that “the -herb mallows is good for food, as is the sweet stalk of the asphodel -or daffodil.” These plants were often used by metonymy for a frugal -table. Homer (Odyssey 24.) places the shades of the blessed in meadows -of asphodel, because they were supposed to be restored to the state -of primitive innocence, when men were contented with the simple and -spontaneous aliment of the ground. Perhaps the Greeks had this allusion -in their custom of planting the asphodel in the cemeteries, and also -burying it with the bodies of the dead. It appears from Pliny, b. xxii. -c. 22. that Hesiod had treated of the asphodel in some other work: as he -is said to have spoken of it as a native of the woods. - -[32] _The food of man in deep concealment lies._] The meaning of this -passage resembles that of the passage in Virgil’s first Georgic: - - The sire of gods and men with hard decrees - Forbade our plenty to be bought with ease. - - DRYDEN. - -[33] _Have laid the rudder by._] It seems the vice of commentators to -refine with needless subtleties on plain passages. Le Clerc explains -this to mean that “in one day’s fishing you might have caught such an -abundance of fish, as to allow of the rudder being laid by for a long -interval.” The common sense of the passage, however, is that, were the -former state of existence renewed, the rudder, which it was customary -after a voyage to hang up in the smoke, might remain there for ever. You -needed not have crossed the sea for merchandise. The custom of suspending -the helms of ships in chimneys, to preserve them from decay, is adverted -to again among the nautical precepts. - - The well-framed rudder in the smoke suspend. - -Virgil recommends the same process with respect to the timber hewn for -the plough: Georg. 1. - - Hung where the chimney’s curling fumes arise, - The searching smoke the harden’d timber dries. - -[34] _Mock’d by wise Prometheus._] The original deception which provoked -the wrath of Jupiter was the sacrifice of bones mentioned in the Theogony. - -It would appear extraordinary that the crime of Prometheus, who was a -god, should be visited on man. This injustice betrays the real character -of Prometheus; that he was a deified mortal. If Prometheus, the maker of -man according to Ovid, and his divine benefactor according to Hesiod, be -in reality Noah, as many circumstances concur to prove, the concealment -of fire by Jupiter might be a type of the darkness and dreariness of -nature during the interval of the deluge; and the recovery of the flame -might signify the renovation of light and fertility and the restitution -of the arts of life. - -[35] _An ill which all shall love._] In the scholia of Olympiodorus on -Plato, Pandora is allegorized into the irrational soul or sensuality: -as opposed to intellect. By Heinsius she is supposed to be Fortune. -But there never was less occasion for straining after philosophical -mysteries. Hesiod asserts in plain terms, that Pandora is the mother of -woman; he tells us she brought with her a casket of diseases; and that -through her the state of man became a state of labour, and his longevity -was abridged. It is an ancient Asiatic legend; and Pandora is plainly the -Eve of Mosaic history. How this primitive tradition came to be connected -with that of the deluge is easily explained. “Time with the ancients,” -observes Mr. Bryant, “commenced at the deluge; all their traditions and -genealogies terminated here. The birth of mankind went with them no -higher than this epocha.” We see here a confusion of events, of periods, -and of characters. The fall of man to a condition of labour, disease, and -death is made subsequent to the flood; because the great father of the -post-diluvian world was regarded as the original father of mankind. - -[36] _The zone, the dress._] This office is probably assigned to Pallas, -as the inventress and patroness of weaving and embroidery, and works in -wool. - -[37] _With chains of gold._] Ορμους, rendered by the interpreter -_monilia_, are not merely necklaces, but chains for any part of the -person: as the arms and ankles. Ornaments of gold, and particularly -chains, belong to the costume of very high antiquity. - -“Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul: who clothed you in scarlet with -other delights: who put on _ornaments of gold_ upon your apparel. Samuel -b. ii. ch. 1. v. 24. - -“And she took sandals upon her feet, and put about her her bracelets, -_and her chains_, and her rings, and her ear-rings, and all her -ornaments, and decked herself bravely, to allure the eyes of all men that -should see her.” Judith ch. x. v. 4. - -[38] _The beauteous-tressed Hours._] The Hours, according to Homer, made -the toilette of Venus: - - The smooth strong gust of Zephyr wafted her - Through billows of the many-waving sea - In the soft foam: the Hours, whose locks are bound - With gold, received her blithely, and enrobed - With heavenly vestments: her immortal head - They wreathed with golden fillet, beautiful, - And aptly framed: her perforated ears - They hung with jewels of the mountain-brass - And precious gold: her tender neck, and breast - Of dazzling white, they deck’d with chains of gold, - Such as the Hours wear braided with their locks. - - HYMN TO VENUS. - -[39] _His herald from above._] The first edition had “winged herald;” but -the wings of Mercury are the additions of later mythologists. Homer, in -the Odyssey, speaks only of - - The sandals fair, - Golden, and undecay’d, that waft him o’er - The sea, and o’er th’ immeasurable earth - With the swift-breathing wind: - -there is no mention of the sandals being winged. They seem to have -possessed a supernatural power of velocity, like the seven-leagued boots, -or the shoes of swiftness, in the Tales of the Giants. - -[40] _Th’ unbroken vase._] αρρηκτοισι δομοισι. Seleucus, an ancient -critic, quoted by Proclus, proposed πιυοισι: as if the casket in which -Hope dwelt, might not literally be called her house. Heinsius supposes an -allusion to the chamber of a virgin. After this, who would expect that -δομοισι means nothing more than a chest? - - Ελουσα κεδρινῳν δομῶν - Εσθῆτα, κοσμον τ’. - - EURIPIDES. ALCESTIS. 158. - - taking from her cedar coffers - Vestures and jewels. - -[41] _On casual wing they glide._] Perhaps Milton had Hesiod in his eye, -in the speech of Satan to Sin: Par. Lost, b. ii. line 840. - - Thou and Death - Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen - Wing silently the buxom air. - -[42] _Wealthy in flocks._] Grævius has misled all the editors by arguing -that μῆλα are, in this place, fruits of any trees; as arbutes, figs, -nuts; and not flocks: but his arguments respecting the food of primitive -mankind are drawn from the conceptions of modern poets; such as Lucretius -and Ovid. The traditionary age described by Hesiod was a shepherd -age. Flocks are the most ancient symbol of prosperity, and are often -synonymous with riches and dominion. - -[43] _High Jove as dæmons raised them from the ground._] In the account -of this age we have a just history of the rise of idolatry; when deified -men had first divine honours paid to them; and we may be assured of the -family in which it began; as what was termed Crusean, the _golden_ race, -should have been expressed Cusean; for it relates to the age of Chus, -and the denomination of his sons. This substitution was the cause of the -other divisions being introduced; that each age might be distinguished -in succession by one of baser metal. Had there been no mistake about a -golden age, we should never have been treated with one of silver; much -less with the subsequent of brass and iron. The original history relates -to the patriarchic age, when the time of man’s life was not yet abridged -to its present standard, and when the love of rule and acts of violence -first displayed themselves on the earth. The Amonians, wherever they -settled, carried these traditions along with them, which were thus added -to the history of the country; so that the scene of action was changed. -A colony who styled themselves Saturnians came to Italy, and greatly -benefited the natives. But the ancients, who generally speak collectively -in the singular, and instead of Herculeans introduce Hercules; instead -of Cadmians, Cadmus; suppose a single person, Saturn, to have betaken -himself to this country. Virgil mentions the story in this light, and -speaks of Saturn’s settling there; and of the rude state of the nation -upon his arrival; where he introduced an age of gold. Æn. viii. 314. The -account is confused; yet we may discern in it a true history of the first -ages, as may be observed likewise in Hesiod. Both the poets, however the -scene may be varied, allude to the happy times immediately after the -deluge; when the great patriarch had full power over his descendants, and -equity prevailed without written law. BRYANT. - -[44] _Their kingly state._] The administration of forensic justice is -implied in the words γερας βασιληιον, regal office. - -[45] _The wealth of fields._] Heinsius quotes Hesychius to show that -πλοῦτος does not always mean riches, properly so called; but the riches -of the soil: and says that it is here applied to the good dæmons as -presiding over the productions of the seasons. Bacchus, in the Lenæan -rites, was invoked by the epithet πλουτοδοτης, wealth-bestower; in -allusion to the vineyard. It seems intimated here, that the Spirits -reward the deeds of the just by abundant harvests; the common belief of -the Greeks, as appears both from Hesiod and Homer. - -[46] _A hundred years._] Heinsius explains this passage to mean, that -“although this age was indeed deteriorated from the former, this much of -good remained; that the boys were not early exposed to the contagion of -vice, but long participated the chaste and retired education of their -sisters in the seclusion of the female apartments.” Grævius, on the -contrary, insists that Hesiod notes it as a mark of depravation, that the -youth were educated in sloth and effeminacy, and grew up, as it were, on -the lap of their mothers. These two opinions are about equally to the -purpose. [“The poet manifestly alludes to the longevity of persons in the -patriarchic age: for they did not, it seems, die at three-score and ten, -but took more time even in advancing towards puberty. He speaks, however, -of their being cut off in their prime; and whatever portion of life -nature might have allotted to them, they were abridged of it by their own -folly and injustice.”] BRYANT. - -[47] _To Troy’s far shore._] Dr. Clarke in his travels in Greece, Egypt, -and the Holy-land, has noticed that the existence of Troy, and the facts -relative to the Trojan war, are supported by a variety of evidence -independent of Homer: as has been abundantly shown in the course of the -controversy between Mr. Bryant and his able antagonist, Mr. Morritt. This -passage of Hesiod seems to me decisive testimony. If Hesiod be older than -Homer, as is computed by the chronicler of the Parian Marbles, it is -self-evident that the Trojan war is not of Homeric invention: and if they -were contemporary, or even if Hesiod, according to the vulgar chronology, -were really junior by a century, it is not at all probable that he should -have copied the fiction of another bard, while tracing the primitive -history of mankind. He manifestly used the ancient traditions of his -nation, of which the war of Troy was one. - -[48] _In those blest isles._] Pindar also alludes to these in his second -Olympic Ode: - - They take the way which Jove did long ordain - To Saturn’s ancient tower beside the deep: - Where gales, that softly breathe, - Fresh-springing from the bosom of the main - Through the islands of the blessed blow. - -As the life of these beatified heroes was a renewal of that in the -golden age, it is figured by the reign of Saturn or Cronus: the father -of post-diluvian time. The era in which, after the waste of the deluge, -the vine was planted and corn again sown, was represented by tradition -as a time of wonderful abundance and fruitfulness. Hence apparently the -fable of the Elysian fields: which some have supposed to originate from -the reports of voyagers, who had visited distant fertile regions. Saturn -is usually placed in Tartarus: but Tartarus meant the west: from the -association of darkness with sunset: and the Blessed Islands were the -Fortunate Isles on the Western Coast of Afric. - -“These heroes, whose equity is so much spoken of, upon a nearer inquiry -are found to be continually engaged in wars and murders; and like the -specimens exhibited of the former ages, are finally cut off by each -other’s hands in acts of robbery and violence: some for stealing sheep, -others for carrying away the wives of their friends and neighbours. Such -was the end of these laudable banditti: of whom Jupiter, we are told, -had so high an opinion, that after they had plundered and butchered one -another, he sent them to the island of the Blest to partake of perpetual -felicity.” BRYANT. - -[49] _This iron age of earth._] Les écrivains de tous les tems ont -regardé leur siècle comme le pire de tous: il n’y a que Voltaire qui ait -dit du sien, - - O le bon tems que ce siècle de fer! - -Encore était-ce dans un accès de gaieté: car ailleurs il appelle le -dixhuitième siècle, l’égout des siècles. C’est un de ces sujets sur -lesquels on dit ce qu’on veut: selon qu’il plait d’envisager tel ou tel -côté des objêts. LA HARPE, LYCÉE, tome premier. - -[50] - - _For scarcely spring they to the light of day,_ - _Ere age untimely strews their temples gray._] - -Dr. Martyn, in a note on Virgil’s 4th Eclogue, has fallen into the -error of the old interpreters; when he quotes Hesiod as describing the -iron age “which was to end when the men of that time _grew old and -gray_.” Postquam _facti_ circa tempora cani _fuerint_: but the proper -interpretation is, quum vix _nati_ canescant: as Grævius has corrected -it. The same critic is unquestionably right in his opinion, that the -future tenses of this passage in the original are to be understood as -indefinite present: μεμψονται, incusabunt: _i. e._ incusare solent: _use_ -to revile. - -Mark, iii. 27. και τοτε την οικιᾶν αυτου διαρπασει: “and then he will -spoil his house:” that is, he is accustomed to spoil. The imperfect time -has also frequently the same acceptation: as in the same evangelist: ch. -xiv. 12. το πασχα εθυον, they _killed_ the passover: they are used to -kill it. - -[51] _Now man’s right hand is law._] Imitated by Milton in the vision of -Adam: - - So violence - Proceeded, and oppression, and sword-law - Through all the plain. - -[52] _Leave the broad earth._] Virgil alludes to this passage, Georg. ii. -473. - - From hence Astræa took her flight, and here - The prints of her departing steps appear. - - DRYDEN. - -As also Juvenal: Sat. vi. line 19. - - I well believe in Saturn’s ancient reign - This Chastity might long on earth remain:— - By slow degrees her steps Astræa sped - To heaven above, and both the sisters fled. - -[53] _Now unto kings._] Βασιλευς, which we render _king_, was properly, -in the early times of Greece, a magistrate. The kings against whom Hesiod -inveighs, are therefore simply a kind of nobles, who exercised the -judicial office in Bœotia; like the twelve of Phœacia mentioned in the -Odyssey. See Mitford’s History of Greece, vol. i. ch. 3. - -[54] _A neck-streak’d nightingale._] Ποικιλοδειρον, with variegated -throat. This has not been thought appropriate to the nightingale. Tzetzes -and Moschopolus interpreted the term by ποικιλοφωνον, with varied voice; -a very forced construction; yet it is adopted by Loesner, who renders -it by _canoram_. Ruhnken proposes the emendation of ποικιλογηρυν, which -is synonymous. Others have doubted whether αηδων, which is literally -_singer_, might not apply to some other bird, as the thrush, which is -defined by Linnæus, “back brown, neck spotted with white.” But the name -_singer_ might have been applied to the nightingale by way of eminence. -In fact I see no difficulty. Linnæus, indeed, describes the nightingale, -“bill brown, head and back pale mouse-colour, with olive spots,” and -says nothing of the throat. Simonides, however, speaks of χλοραυχενες -αειδονες, _green-necked_ nightingales, which might justify Hesiod’s -epithet. Bewick in the “British Birds” thus describes the _luscinia_: -“the whole upper part of the body of a rusty brown tinged with olive; -under parts pale ash-colour; _almost white at the throat_.” A more -ancient ornithologist has a description still more nearly approximating -to the term of Hesiod; and it seems evident that there is more than one -species of nightingale. - -“Luscinia, philomela, αηδων. - -“The nightingale is about the bigness of a goldfinch. The colour on the -upper part, _i. e_. the head and back, is a pale fulvous (lion, or deep -gold colour) with a certain mixture of green, like that of a red-wing. -Its tail is of a deeper fulvous or red, like a red-start’s. From its -red colour it took the name of _rossignuolo_, in Italian: (_rossignol_, -French). The belly is white. The parts under the wings, breast, -and _throat_, are of a darker colour, with _a tincture of green_.” -WILLOUGHBY’S ORNITHOLOGY, fol. 1678. - -[55] _The fool by suffering his experience buys._] Παυων δε τε νηπιος -εγνω. This seems to have been a national proverb. Homer has a similar -apophthegm: Il. 17. 33. - - μηδ’ αντιος ισταθ’ εμειο - Πριν τι κακον παθεειν· ρεχθεν δε τε νηπιος εγνω. - - Confront me not, lest some sore evil rise: - The fool must rue the act that makes him wise. - -Plato uses the same proverbial sentiment: - - Ευλαβηθῆναι και μη, κατα την παροιμιαν, ωσπερ νηπιον παθονται γνωναι. - -Beware lest, after the proverb, you get knowledge like the fool, by -suffering. - -[56] _Walks in awful grief the city-ways._] Something similar is the -prosopopœia of Wisdom in the Proverbs of Solomon, ch. viii. She standeth -on the top of high places, by the way, and the places of the paths. - -She crieth at the gates: at the entry of the city: at the coming in of -the doors. - -[57] _O’er their stain’d manners._] Grævius observes that the -interpreters render ηθεα λαῶν, “most foolishly” by _the manners_ of the -people: because ηθεα signifies also _habitations_. But as it is not -pretended that ηθεα does not equally signify _manners_, “the extreme -folly” of the interpreters has, I confess, escaped my penetration. Is it -so very forced an image that Justice should weep over the manners of a -depraved people? - -[58] _They and their cities flourish._] This passage resembles one in -the nineteenth book of the Odyssey: but not so closely as to justify the -charge of plagiarism which Dr. Clarke prefers against Hesiod, and which -might be retorted upon Homer. These were sentiments common to the popular -religion. - - Like the praise of some great king - Who o’er a numerous people and renown’d, - Presiding like a deity, maintains - Justice and truth. Their harvests overswell - The sower’s hopes: their trees o’erladen scarce - Their fruit sustain: no sickness thins the folds: - The finny swarms of ocean crowd the shores, - And all are rich and happy for his sake. - - COWPER. - -[59] _Reflects the father’s face._] Montesquieu remarks: “The people -mentioned by Pomponius Mela (the Garamantes) had no other way of -discovering the father but by resemblance. Pater est quem nuptiæ -demonstrant.” But this uncertain criterion was considered as infallible -generally by the ancients. - - She whom no conjugal affections bind, - Still on a stranger bends her fickle mind: - But easy to discern the spurious race, - None in the child the father’s features trace. - - THEOCRITUS—_Encomium of Ptolemy._ - - Oh may a young Torquatus bending - From his mother’s breast to thee, - His tiny infant hands extending, - Laugh with half-open’d lips in childish ecstasy: - May he reflect the father in his face: - Known for a Mallius to the glancing eye - Of strangers unaware, who trace - In the boy’s forehead of paternal grace - A mother’s shining chastity. - - CATULLUS—_Epithalamium on Julia and Mallius._ - -[60] - - _Holy demons rove_ - _This breathing world._] - -Milton is thought to have copied Hesiod in this passage: - - Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth - Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep. - -But the coincidence seems merely incidental, as the parallel wants -completeness. There is nothing of angelic guardianship or judicial -inspection in the spirits of Milton: he says only, - - All these with ceaseless praise his works behold - Both day and night. How often from the steep - Of echoing hill, or thicket, have we heard - Celestial voices to the midnight air, - Sole, or responsive to each other’s note, - Singing their great Creator? - - PAR. LOST, iv. - -[61] - - _Their glance alike surveys_ - _The upright judgments and th’ unrighteous ways._] - -The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. -PROVERBS, xv. 3. - -[62] _So rue the nations when their kings offend._] Theobald, in a note -on Cooke’s translation, proposes to change δημος, _the people_, into -τημος, _then_: and renders αποτιση in the sense of _punish_, instead of -_rue_: thus the meaning would be, “that he might then, at that instant, -punish the sins of the judges.” Never was an interference with the text -so little called for. The meaning which Theobald is so scrupulous to -admit is exactly conformable with that of a preceding passage: - - And oft the crimes of one destructive fall; - The crimes of one are visited on all. - -It is idle to inquire where is the justice of this kind of retribution? -since it is evident from all the history of mankind that such is the -course of nature. - -By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown -by the mouth of the wicked. PROVERBS, xi. 11. - -The king by judgment establisheth the land; but he that receiveth gifts -overthroweth it. Ch. xxix. 4. - -In Simpson’s notes on Beaumont and Fletcher, this passage is compared -with the following in Philaster: - - In whose name - We’ll waken all the Gods, and conjure up - The rods of vengeance, the abused people: - -and it is proposed to understand it in the sense of Fletcher, “that the -people might be raised up to _punish_ the crimes of their prince.” There -is taste and spirit in this interpretation, which cannot be said for the -amendment of Theobald: but the common acceptation seems to me the right -one, for the reasons already stated. - -[63] _Pours down the treasures of felicity._] In the house of the -righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked there is -trouble. PROVERBS, xv. 6. - -The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he -casteth away the substance of the wicked. Ch. x. 3. - -The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot. -Ch. x. 7. - -A false witness shall not be unpunished: and he that speaketh lies shall -perish. Ch. xix. 9. - -The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit -the earth. Ch. x. 30. - -The inheritance of sinners’ children shall perish: and their posterity -shall have a perpetual reproach. WISDOM OF JESUS THE SON OF SIRACH, xli. -6. - -Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among -the children of men. PSALMS, xxi. 10. - -[64] _Smooth is the track of vice._] The way of sinners is made plain -with stones: but at the end thereof is the pit of hell. WISDOM OF JESUS -THE SON OF SIRACH, xxi. 10. - -Both Plato and Xenophon who quote this line of Hesiod, read λειη, smooth, -instead of ολιγη, short. Krebsius prefers the reading, as a _short_ road -and _dwells near_ make a vapid tautology: and _smooth_ forms a good -antithesis to _rough_. - -[65] _The sweat that bathes the brow._] Spenser has imitated this parable -in his description of Honour: - - In woods, in waves, in wars she wonts to dwell, - And will be found with peril and with pain: - Ne can the man that moulds in idle cell - Unto her happy mansion attain. - Before her gate high God did sweat ordain, - And wakeful watches ever to abide: - But easy is the way and passage plain - To Pleasure’s palace: it may soon be spied, - And day and night her doors to all stand open wide. - -This allegory of Hesiod seems the basis of the apologue of Hercules, -Virtue and Vice, which Xenophon in his “Memorabilia,” 2, 21, quotes by -memory from Prodicus’s “History of Hercules.” - -[66] _To the wiser friend._] The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: -but he that hearkeneth to counsel is wise. PROVERBS, xii. 15. - -A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the -wise. Ch. xv. 12. - -[67] _Oh son of Dios._] Διον γενος: Tzetzes had written in the margin -Διου γενος, and this is in all probability the true reading; not that -there is any thing extraordinary in the application of the term _divine_, -as the Greeks used it in a wide latitude, and on frequent occasions. -Homer applies it to the swineherd of Ulysses. It was a term of courtesy -or respect; and Hesiod may have intended to compliment, not Perses, but -their father. We have, however, the testimony of Ephorus, as recorded -by Plutarch, that Dius was the father of Hesiod; and a copyist might -easily have mistaken a υ for a ν. The author of the “Contest of Homer -and Hesiod” seems to have read Διου γενος, as he makes Homer address his -competitor, - - Ησιοδ’ εκγονη Διου— - - Oh Hesiod! Dius’ son! - -The reading is recommended by the Abbé Sevin in the “Histoire de -l’Académie des Inscriptions,” and by Villoison; and is adopted by Brunck -in his “Gnomici Poetæ Græci.” The herma of Hesiod exhibited by Bellorio -in his “Veterûm Poetarûm Imagines” has the inscription, Ησιοδου Διου -Ασκραιος, Ascræan Hesiod the son of Dios. - -[68] _Still on the sluggard hungry want attends._] He that gathereth -in summer is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that -causeth shame. PROVERBS, x. 5. - -He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that -followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough. Ch. xxviii. 19. - -Hate not laborious work; neither husbandry: which the Most High has -ordained. WISDOM OF JESUS THE SON OF SIRACH, vii. 15. - -He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the -diligent maketh rich. PROVERBS, x. 4. - -The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour: -he coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and -spareth not. Ch. xxi. 25. - -[69] _Shame, which our aid or injury we find._] The verse - - No shame is his, - Shame, of mankind the injury or aid, - -occurs in the Iliad, 24; and in the Odyssey, 17, we meet with - - An evil shame the needy beggar holds: - -but Le Clerc should have known better than to follow Plutarch in the -supposition of the lines being inserted from Homer by some other hand. It -is one of the proverbial and traditionary sayings which frequently occur -in their writings, and which belong rather to the language than to the -poet. - -The admirable Jewish scribe, in that ancient book of the Apocrypha -entitled Ecclesiasticus, uses the same proverb: - -Observe the opportunity and beware of evil; and be not ashamed when it -concerneth thy soul. - -For there is a shame that bringeth sin; and there is a shame which is -glory and grace. WISDOM OF JESUS THE SON OF SIRACH, iv. 20, 21. - -[70] _But shun extorted riches._] He that hasteth to be rich, hath an -evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him. PROVERBS, -xxviii. 22. - -He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall -gather it for him that will pity the poor. Ch. xxviii. 8. - -[71] _Who spurns the suppliant._] The ninth book of the Odyssey exhibits -a beautiful passage illustrative of the high reverence in which the -Grecians held the duties of hospitality. - - Illustrious lord! respect the gods, and us - Thy suitors: suppliants are the care of Jove - The hospitable: he their wrongs resents, - And where the stranger sojourns there is he. - - COWPER. - -[72] _If aught thou borrowest._] Lend to thy neighbour in time of his -need, and pay thou thy neighbour again in due season. - -Keep thy word and deal faithfully with him, and thou shalt always find -the thing that is necessary for thee. WISDOM OF JESUS THE SON OF SIRACH. - -[73] _Who loves thee, love._] Far different is the spirit of the Gospel. -“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour -and hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them -that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which -despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of -your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the -evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” -MATTHEW, v. 43. - -If ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also -love those that love them. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to -receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive -as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping -for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the -children of the Highest; for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the -evil. LUKE, vi. 32. - -[74] _Spare the middle wine._] Hesiod says that we should use the middle -of the cask more sparingly, that we might enjoy the best wine the longer. -It was the ancient opinion that wine was best in the middle, oil at the -top, and honey at the bottom. GRÆVIUS. - -This opinion of Hesiod is discussed by Plutarch in his Symposiacs, iii. -7, and by Macrobius in his Saturnalia, vii. 12. - -[75] _As in laughter._] Και τε κασιγνητω γελασας επι μαρτυρα θεσθαι. The -interpreters say, - - Etiam cum fratre ludens, testem adhibeto. - -But I should place the comma after _fratre_, and join _ludens_ with -_testem adhibeto_. “Even in a compact with your brother, have a witness: -you may do it laughingly, or as if in jest.” - -[76] _With garment gather’d in a knot behind._] πυγοστολος, adorning the -hinder parts, seems to refer to some meretricious distinction of dress. -Solon compelled women of loose character to appear in public in flowered -robes. Solomon in that beautiful chapter of the Proverbs has a similar -allusion. “There met him a woman _with the attire of a harlot_, and -subtle of heart.” Ch. vii. 10. - -[77] _Prattling with gay speech._] With her much fair speech she caused -him to yield: with the flattering of her lips she forced him. PROVERBS, -vii. 21. - -[78] - - _Arise_ - _Before the sun._] - -In the words of Hesiod there is made mention of one rising of the -Pleiads, which is heliacal, and of a double setting: the time of the -rising may be referred to the 11th of May. The first setting, which -indicated ploughing-time, was _cosmical_; when, as the sun rises, the -Pleiads sink below the opposite horizon, which, in the time of Hesiod, -happened about the beginning of November. The second setting is somewhat -obscurely designated in the line - - They in his lustre forty days lie hid; - -and is the _heliacal_ setting, which happened the third of April, and -after which the Pleiads were immerged in the sun’s splendour forty days. -Hesiod, however, speaks as if he confounded the two settings, for no one -would suppose but that the first-mentioned setting was that after which -the Pleiads are said to be hidden previous to the harvest. But his words -are to be explained with more indulgence, since he could not be ignorant -of the time that intervened between the season of ploughing and that of -harvest. LE CLERC. - -[79] _’Tis time to sow._] In the original, begin _ploughing_; by which -is meant the last ploughing, when they turned up the soil to receive the -seed. Thus Virgil, Georg. 1: - - First let the morning Pleiades go down: - From the sun’s rays emerge the Gnossian crown, - Ere to th’ unwilling earth thou trust the seed. - - WARTON. - -Heyne observes, “they sink below the region of the West, at the same time -that the sun emerges from the East;” the _cosmical_ setting described by -Hesiod. The receding of the bright star of the crown of Ariadne, which -Virgil mentions, is its receding from the sun; that is, its heliacal -rising. - -The heliacal rising is a star’s emersion out of the sun’s rays; that is, -a star rises heliacally when, having been in conjunction with the sun, -the sun passes it and recedes from it. The star then emerges out of the -sun’s rays so far that it becomes again visible, after having been for -some time lost in the superiority of day-light. The time of day in which -the star rises heliacally is at the dawn of day; it is then seen for a -few minutes near the horizon, just out of the reach of the morning light; -and it rises in a double sense from the horizon and from the sun’s rays. -Afterwards, as the sun’s distance increases, it is seen more and more -every morning. - -The heliacal rising and setting is then, properly, an apparition and -occultation. With respect to the Pleiads, it appears that different -authors vary in fixing the duration of their occultation from about -thirty-one days to above forty. - -In a note by Holdsworth on Warton’s Georgics, it is observed that -the _heliacal_ setting of these stars is pointed out by the word -_abscondantur_. But this is a contradiction; for _Eoæ absconduntur_ is -the same as _occidunt matutinæ_, set in the morning; but the time of day -in which a star sets heliacally is in the evening, just after sun-set, -when it is seen only for a few minutes in the west near the horizon, on -the edge of the sun’s splendour, into which in a few days more it sinks. - -[80] _Plough naked still._] Virgil copies this direction, Georg. i: - - Plough naked swain! and naked sow the land, - For lazy winter numbs the labouring hand. - - DRYDEN. - -Servius explains the meaning to be, that he should plough and sow “in -fair weather, when it was so hot as to make clothing superfluous.” This -seems to be very idle advice, and fixes on Virgil the imputation of -a truism. An equally superfluous counsel is ascribed by Robinson and -Grævius to Hesiod. We are correctly told that both γυμνος and _nudus_ -applied to men who had laid aside their upper garment, whether the -_pallia_ or _toga_, the Grecian cloak or the Roman gown; and thus is -explained the passage in Matthew, xxiv. 18: “Neither let him which is in -the field return back to take his clothes:” but as no husbandman, whether -Greek or Italian, unless insane, would dream of following the plough -in a trailing cloak, Hesiod may safely be acquitted of so unnecessary -a piece of advice. In the hot climates of Greece and Italy, it was -probably the custom for active husbandmen to bare the upper part of their -bodies. Virgil does not say “Plough in fine weather and not in winter;” -but “Plough with your best diligence, for winter will soon be here:” -equivalent to Hesiod’s “Summer will not last for ever.” - -[81] _The idler never shall his garners fill._] He that tilleth his land -shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons -shall have poverty enough. PROVERBS, xxviii. 19. - -[82] _Trees bud no more._] The sap of the trees, which causes them to -germinate, is then at rest. Trees when moist with sap are subject to -worms, and the timber in consequence would be liable to putrefaction. -Vitruvius also recommends that timber be felled in the autumn. - -[83] _A mortar of three feet._] The purposes to which ancient marbles are -applied by the Turks may serve to explain the use of the mortar, which -Hesiod mentions as part of the apparatus of the husbandman. “Capitals, -when of large dimensions, are turned upside down, and being hollowed out -are placed in the middle of the street, and used publicly for bruising -wheat and rice, as in a mortar.” DALLAWAY’S CONSTANTINOPLE. - -[84] _Of bending figure._] So also Virgil, Georg. i. 169: - - Young elms, with early force, in copses bow, - Fit for the figure of the crooked plough. - - DRYDEN. - -Dr. Martyn, in his comparison of Virgil’s plough with that of Hesiod, -has fallen into the mistake of the old interpreters who render γοην -_dentale_, the share-beam: whereas γυην is _burim_, the plough-tail, to -which the share-beam joins. - -[85] _Thy artist join the whole._] In the original “the servant of -Minerva,” that is, the carpenter. Minerva presided over all crafts, and -was the patroness of works in iron and wood. - -[86] - - _with bread_ - _Of four-squared loaf._] - -The loaf here mentioned is similar to the _quadra_ of the Romans: so -denominated from its being marked four-square by incisions at equal -distances. See Athenæus, iii. 29. - -By “a quadruple loaf containing eight portions,” Hesiod, perhaps, means -a loaf double the usual size; similar, probably, to that mentioned by -Theocritus, Idyl. xxiv. 135: - - A huge Doric loaf: - Which he that digs the ground and sets the plant - Might eat and well be fill’d. - -[87] _The shrill crane’s migratory cry._] The cranes generally leave -Europe for a more southern climate about the latter end of autumn; -and return in the beginning of summer. Their cry is the loudest among -birds; and although they soar to such a height as to be invisible, it is -distinctly heard. It is often a prognostic of rain: as from the immense -altitude of their ascent they are peculiarly susceptible of the motions -and changes of the atmosphere: but Tzetzes is mistaken in supposing that -the migratory cry of the crane denotes only its sensibility of cold. -These migrations are performed in the night-time, and in numerous bodies; -and the clangous scream, alluded to by Hesiod, is of use to govern their -course. By this cry they are kept together; are directed to descend upon -the corn-fields, the favourite scene of their depredations, and to betake -themselves again to flight in case of alarm. Though they soar above the -reach of sight they can, themselves, clearly distinguish every thing upon -the earth beneath them. See “Goldsmith’s Animated Nature.” Virgil notices -the crane’s instinct as to rain, Georg. i. 375: - - The wary crane foresees it first, and sails - Above the storm, and leaves the lowly vales. - - DRYDEN. - -[88] _Of ploughing-time the sign._] Of the first ploughing Hesiod says, -ειαρι πολειν: turn the soil in spring; of the second, θερεος νεωμενη, -ploughed again in summer; the summer tilth: of the third αροτον: by which -he invariably means the seed-ploughing, when they both ploughed up and -sowed the ground. SALMASIUS _in Solinum_, 509. - -Robinson quotes a passage of Aristophanes: Birds, 711: - - “Sow when the screaming crane migrates to Afric.” - -The ploughing first mentioned by Hesiod is, then, actually the last. -It appears that he recommends ground to be twi-fallowed: or prepared -twice by ploughing before the seed-ploughing. Virgil directs it to be -tri-fallowed, Georg. i. 47: - - Deep in the furrows press the shining share: - Those lands at last repay the peasant’s care, - Which twice the sun and twice the frosts sustain, - And burst his barns surcharged with ponderous grain. - - WARTON. - -Fallowing, or ploughing the soil while at rest from yielding a crop, -prepares it for the growth of seed by pulverizing it, exposing it to -the influences of the atmosphere, and destroying the weeds: and is of -essential use in recovering land that had been impoverished and exhausted -by a succession of the same crops. The practice of fallows seems, -however, to be now in a great degree superseded by that of an interchange -of other crops in rotation; and the succession of green or leguminous -plants alternately with the white crops or grain: the frequent hoeings, -in this mode of tillage, cleaning the soil no less effectually than -fallowings. - -[89] _Rich in his own conceit._] The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit -than seven men who can render a reason. PROVERBS, xxvi. 16. - -[90] _These let thy timely care provide before._] See Virgil, Georg. i. -167: - - The sharpen’d share and heavy-timber’d plough: - And Ceres’ ponderous waggon rolling slow: - And Celeus’ harrows, hurdles, sleds to trail - O’er the press’d grain, and Bacchus’ flying sail: - These long before provide. - - WARTON. - -[91] _Jove subterrene._] Guietus supposes that the husband of Proserpine -is invoked from the consanguinity between Pluto, Proserpine, and Ceres. -But this is not the only reason. Grævius properly remarks, that the -earth, and all under the earth, were subject to Pluto, as the air was -to Jupiter: Pluto, therefore, was supposed the giver of those treasures -which the earth produces: whether of metals or grain. He was in fact the -same with Plutus: and both names are formed from the Greek word πλουτος, -_wealth_. - -[92] _And scare the birds away._] So Virgil, Georg. i. 156: - - _Et sonitu terrebis aves._ - - Scare with a shout the birds. - -[93] _Nor thou on others’ heaps a gazer be._] Virgil, Georg. i. 158: - - On others’ crops you may with envy look, - And shake for food the long-abandon’d oak. - - DRYDEN. - -[94] _And few shall pass thee then with honouring eye._] The Psalmist -alludes to a blessing given by the passers-by at harvest: while comparing -the wicked to grass withering on the house-top: “Wherewith the mower -filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom: neither -do they which go by say, “The blessing of the Lord be upon you.” PSALM -cxxix. 7, 8. - -[95] _The brazier’s forge._] Θακος was properly a _seat_ or _bench_: and -λεσχη, _conversation_, _chit-chat_—but they came to be applied to the -places where loungers sat and talked: hence the former meant a shop, and -the latter a portico, piazza, or public exchange, whither idlers of all -kinds resorted. It should seem from Homer that beggars took up their -night’s lodging in such places: Odyssey xvii. Melantho, taking Ulysses -for a mendicant, says to him, - - Thou wilt not seek for rest some brazier’s forge, - Or portico. - -[96] _To gripe thy tumid foot._] Aristotle remarks that, in famished -persons, the upper parts of the body are dried up, and the lower -extremities become tumid. SCALIGER. - -[97] _Make now your nests._] Grævius finds out that καλιαι may mean -_huts_ and _barns_, as well as _nests_: and in the true spirit of a -verbal commentator, explodes the old interpretation of “_facite nidos_” -and substitutes “_exstruite casas_:” in which he is followed, like the -leader of the flock, by all the modern editors. These _viri doctissimi_ -are for ever stumbling on school-boy absurdities in their labour to be -critical and sagacious: “they strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” -Are the labourers to set about building huts and barns in the middle of -harvest? Who does not see that “make nests,” as old Chapman properly -renders it, is a mere proverbial figure? “Make hay while the sun shines.” - -[98] _Those frosts._] Hesiod is said, in this description, to have -imitated Orpheus: as if two poets could not describe the appearances and -effects of winter, without copying from each other. - - Many and frequent from the clouds of heaven - The frosts rush down, on beeches and all trees, - Mountains and rocks and men: and every face - Is touch’d with sadness. They sore-nipping smite - The beasts among the hills: nor any man - Can leave his dwelling: quell’d in every limb - By galling cold: in all his limbs congeal’d. - -[99] _Yet from bland Venus’ mystic rites aloof._] Hesiod introduces the -privacy and retiredness of a virgin’s apartment in the house of her -mother, as conveying the idea of more complete shelter. - -[100] _With shining ointment._] Ointment always accompanied the bath. -Thus Homer describes the bathing of Nausicaa and her maids in the sixth -book of the Odyssey: - - And laving next and smoothing o’er with oil - Their limbs, all seated on the river bank - They took repast. - -And afterwards of Ulysses: - - At his side they spread - Mantle and vest; and next the limpid oil - Presenting to him in a golden cruse, - Exhorted him to bathe. - - COWPER. - -[101] _Now gnaws the boneless polypus his feet._] Athenæus, book vii. -explodes the notion of the polypus gnawing its own feet, and states that -its feet are so injured by the congers or sea-eels. Pliny accounts for -the mutilation in rather a marvellous manner. “They are ravenously fond -of oysters: these, at the touch, close their shell, and cutting off the -claws of the polypus take their food from their plunderer. The polypi, -therefore, lie in wait for them when they are open; and placing a little -stone, so as not to touch the body of the oyster, and so as not to be -ejected by the muscular motion of the shell, assail them in security and -extract the flesh. The oyster contracts itself, but to no purpose, having -been thus wedged open.” Lib. ix. c. 30. - -The same story has been told, with greater probability, of the monkey. -“The name of polypi has been peculiarly ascribed to these animals by the -ancients, because of the number of feelers or feet of which they are all -possessed, and with which they have a slow progressive motion: but the -moderns have given the name of polypus to a reptile that lives in fresh -water, by no means so large or observable. These are found at the bottom -of wet ditches, or attached to the under-surface of the broad-leaved -plants that grow and swim on the waters. The same difference holds -between these and the sea-water polypi, as between all the productions -of the land and the ocean. The marine vegetables and animals grow to a -monstrous size. The eel, the pike, or the bream of fresh waters is but -small: in the sea they grow to an enormous magnitude. It is so between -the polypi of both elements. Those of the sea are found from two feet -in length to three or four: and Pliny has even described one, the arms -of which were no less than thirty feet long. The polypus contracts -itself more or less in proportion as it is touched, or as the water is -agitated in which they are seen. Warmth animates them, and cold benumbs -them: but it requires a degree of cold approaching congelation, before -they are reduced to perfect inactivity. The arms, when the animal is -not disturbed, and the season is not unfavourable, are thrown about in -various directions in order to seize and entangle its prey. Sometimes -three or four of the arms are thus employed; while the rest are -contracted, like the horns of a snail, within the animal’s body. It seems -capable of giving what length it pleases to these arms: it contracts -and extends them at pleasure; and stretches them only in proportion to -the remoteness of the object it would seize. Some of these animals so -strongly resemble a flowering vegetable in their forms, that they have -been mistaken for such by many naturalists. Mr. Hughes, the author of the -Natural History of Barbadoes, has described a species of this animal, but -has mistaken its nature, and called it a sensitive flowering plant. He -observed it to take refuge in the holes of rocks, and, when undisturbed, -to spread forth a number of ramifications, each terminated by a flowery -petal, which shrunk at the approach of the hand, and withdrew into the -hole from which it had before been seen to issue. This plant, however, -was no other than an animal of the polypus kind: which is not only to be -found in Barbadoes, but also on many parts of the coast of Cornwall, and -along the shores of the Continent.” GOLDSMITH, ANIMATED NATURE, vol. vi. - -The Polypus is mentioned by Homer, Odys. v.: - - As when the polypus enforced forsakes - His rough recess, in his contracted claws - He gripes the pebbles still to which he clung: - So he within his lacerated grasp - The crumbled stone retain’d, when from his hold - The huge wave forced him, and he sank again. - - COWPER. - -[102] _Like aged men._] In the original, τριποδι βροτᾶ, a three-footed -mortal: that is, a man with a crutch: a metaphor suggested, probably, by -the ænigma of the Sphinx. - -“What is that, which is two-footed, three-footed, and four-footed, yet -one and the same? Œdipus declared that the thing propounded to him was -man: for that a man, while an infant, went on four: when grown up, on -two; and when old, on three: as using a staff through feebleness.” -DIODORUS, Bibl. 4. - -[103] _On a scant warp._] The nap is formed by the threads of the woof: -Hesiod therefore directs the woof to be thick and strong, that the nap -may the better exclude wet. - -[104] _A strong-dying ox._] This expression is borrowed from Chapman. -Thus we find in Homer, “a thong from a slaughtered ox.” This is -illustrated by Plutarch in his Symposiacs, 2. by the fact that the skins -of slaughtered beasts are tougher, less flaccid, and less liable to be -broken than those of animals which have died of age or distemper. The -ancients, says Grævius, made their shoes of the raw hide. - -Πιλοι, in Latin _udones_, were woollen socks; worn, when abroad, inside -the shoes; or as substitutes for shoes, in the manner of slippers, when -within doors and in the bed-chamber. LE CLERC. - -[105] _And kid-skins ’gainst the rigid season sew._] This was a sort of -rough cloak of skins common to the country people of Greece. - - Stripp’d of my garberdine of skins, at once - I will from high leap down into the waves. - - THEOCRITUS, _Idyl._ iii. 25. - -Grævius quotes Varro as authority for a similar covering being worn among -the Romans: by soldiers in camp, by mariners, and poor people. - -[106] _A well-wrought-cap._] In very ancient times the cap answered no -other purpose for the head than the sock, which was worn inside the shoe, -did for the foot. The helmets were lined with it. Of this kind was that -of the helmet which Ulysses, Odys. x. received from Merion: - - Without it was secured - With boar’s-teeth ivory-white, inserted thick - On all sides, and with woollen head-piece lined. - - COWPER. - -Eustathius tells us, that in after-times they gave the same term, πιλος, -to any covering for the head, and thus they ascribed to Ulysses a cap -such as they then used. Thus as the club is the badge of Hercules, so is -the cap of Ulysses: as appears from coins and other antiques. The ancient -Greeks did not use any covering for the head: and it was from them that -the Romans borrowed the custom of going bare-headed. They used caps only -on journeys; in excessive heat or cold; or in rainy weather. These caps -the Latins called _petasos_: they were a kind of broad-brimmed hat, like -that which is observed in the figures of Mercury. Otherwise, when in the -city, they merely wrapped their heads in the lappet of the gown. GRÆVIUS. - -[107] _The wintry tropic._] The winter solstice, according to the table -of Petavius, happened in Hesiod’s time on the 30th of December. The -acronychal rising of Arcturus took place in the 14th degree of Pisces, -which corresponds in the calendar with the 5th of March. LE CLERC. - -The acronychal rising of a star is when it rises at the beginning of -night: the acronychal setting is when it sets at the end of night. But -there are two acronychal risings and settings: the one when the star -rises exactly as the sun sets, and sets exactly as the sun rises. This is -the _true_ acronychal rising and setting, but it is invisible by reason -of the day-light. The other is the visible or _apparent_ acronychal -rising and setting; which is, when the star is actually seen in the -horizon. - -[108] _The green artichoke._] Σκολυμος is not the thistle, as has been -commonly supposed. Pliny says of it, lib. xxii. c. 22, “The scolymos is -also received for food in the East. The stalk is never more than a cubit -in height, with scaly leaves, and a black root of a sweet taste.” It is, -therefore, the artichoke. - -[109] _The loud cicada._] The interpreters translate ηχετα _canora_, and -λιγυρην _dulcem_; and hence an idea is prevalent that Hesiod speaks of -the cicada as having a sweet note; but of these epithets the first is -properly _vocal_ or _sonorous_, and the second _shrill_ or _stridulous_. -Anacreon calls the insect “wise in music,” but he seems to think the note -musical from its cheerful association with summer: - - Mortals honour thee with praise, - Prophet sweet of summer days. - -Virgil applies to it the characteristics of _hoarse_ and _querulous_. Ecl. -ii. Georgic. iii. - -“Of this genus the most common European species is the _cicada plebeia_ -of Linnæus. This is the insect so often commemorated by the ancient -poets; and generally confounded by the major part of translators with -the grasshopper. It is a native of the warmer parts of Europe, and -particularly of Italy and Greece: appearing in the latter months of -summer, and continuing its shrill chirping during the greatest part of -the day: generally sitting among the leaves of trees. Notwithstanding -the romantic attestations in honour of the cicada, it is certain that -modern ears are offended rather than pleased with its voice; which -is so very strong and stridulous, that it fatigues by its incessant -repetition; and a single cicada, hung up in a cage, has been found to -drown the voice of a whole company. The male cicada alone exerts this -powerful note, the female being entirely mute. That a sound so piercing -should proceed from so small a body may well excite our astonishment; -and the curious apparatus, by which it is produced, has justly claimed -the attention of the most celebrated investigators. Reaumur and Roësel, -in particular, have endeavoured to ascertain the nature of the mechanism -by which the noise is produced; and have found that it proceeds from a -pair of concave membranes, seated on each side of the first joints of the -abdomen: the large concavities of the abdomen, immediately under the two -broad _lamellæ_ in the male insect, are also faced by a thin, pellucid, -iridescent membrane, serving to increase and reverberate the sound; and -a strong muscular apparatus is exerted for the purpose of moving the -necessary organs.” SHAW, GENERAL ZOOLOGY, vol. vi. - -The same naturalist specifies several large and elegant insects in -this division of the genus cicada. One with the body of a polished -black colour, marked with scarlet rings: another of a green hue, with -transparent wings, veined also with green; and a third of a fine black -varied beneath with yellow streaks, and the wings black towards the base. - -[110] _Then the plump goat._] This is imitated by Virgil, Georg. i. 341: - - For then the hills with pleasing shades are crown’d, - And sleeps are sweeter on the silken ground: - With milder beams the sun serenely shines, - Fat are the lambs and luscious are the wines. - - DRYDEN. - -[111] _But weak of man the heat-enfeebled reins._] Aristotle is of the -same opinion. The curious reader may consult the Dictionnaire de BAYLE, -iv. 222. Note A. - -[112] _Byblian wine._] This was so called from a region of Thrace: it was -a thin wine, and not intoxicating. See Athenæus, i. 31. It is mentioned -by Theocritus, Idyl. xiv. 15: - - I open’d them a flask of Byblian wine - Well-odour’d: with the flavour of four years. - -[113] _Orion’s beamy strength._] In the table of Petavius the bright -star of the foot of Orion makes its heliacal rise in the 18th degree of -Cancer: that is, on the 12th of July. LE CLERC. - -[114] _On gusty ground._] So Varro, de Re Rusticâ, lib. i. c. 51. “The -threshing-floor should be in a field, on higher ground, where the wind -might blow over it.” See also Columella, lib. xi. c. 20. - -[115] - - _Thy hireling swain_ - _From forth thy house dismiss._] - -Θητα αοικον ποιεισθαι is rendered by Grævius _comparare sibi servum -domo carentem_: and Schrevelius explains the passage to mean that “you -should seek out a servant who, having no house of his own to look after, -could direct his whole attention to your concerns.” So when the harvest -is over, and the corn laid up in the granaries, he is to look out for a -labourer! Was there ever a direction so unmeaning as this? I translate -the words, (_meo periculo_) “_servum operarium è domo dimitte_.” - -[116] _Keep, too, a sharp-tooth’d dog._] Virgil has a more poetical -passage on the same subject, Georg. iii. 404: - - Nor last forget thy faithful dogs: but feed - With fattening whey the mastiff’s generous breed - And Spartan race, who for the fold’s relief - Will prosecute with cries the nightly thief, - Repulse the prowling wolf, and hold at bay - The mountain robbers rushing to the prey. - - DRYDEN. - -[117] - - _On Arcturus looks from high_ - _The rosy-finger’d morn._] - -By this is understood the heliacal rising of Arcturus, which happened in -the time of Hesiod about the 21st of September. LE CLERC. - -[118] - - _On morning’s brink_ - _The Pleiads, Hyads, and Orion sink._] - -This is the morning, or cosmical, setting of the Pleiads; which, according -to Petavius, happened some time in November. LE CLERC. - -[119] _Then varying winds._] Virgil cautions the navigator against the -appearances of the sun, Georg. i. 455: - - If dusky spots are varied on his brow - And streak’d with red a troubled colour show: - That sullen mixture shall at once declare - Winds, rain, and storms, and elemental war: - What desperate madman then would venture o’er - The frith, or haul his cables from the shore? - - DRYDEN. - -[120] _Black ocean._] Οινοπι ποντω, wine-coloured. This evidently means -black: as the Greek poets apply the epithet black to wine. Hesiod has -αιθοπα οινοι, black coloured wine. The sense of this latter epithet is -deduced from the blackness caused by burning: as αιθω is _to burn_. - -[121] _In summer irksome._] This inconvenience arose from the site of -the place: as the scholiasts Proclus and Tzetzes relate: for by the -neighbourhood of so high a mountain as Helicon, the breezes, which might -have alleviated the summer heat, were intercepted: and in winter, the -rays of the sun were excluded from the village; which was also exposed to -torrents from the melting of the snow. ROBINSON. - -[122] _Decline a slender bark._] Αινειν, _commend_. This passage is -quoted by Plutarch in illustration of words used in a different sense -from what they seem to import. _Praise_ means _refuse_. The same idiom -occurs in Virgil’s second Georgic: - - Commend the large excess - Of spacious vineyards: cultivate the less. - - DRYDEN. - -[123] _O’er the sea’s broad way._] From the following extracts it will -not appear extraordinary that this prodigious voyage of Hesiod should -have afforded him but little opportunity of acquiring a practical -knowledge of navigation. On an inspection of the map we must, however, -concede that the passage from Aulis direct to Chalcis is somewhat wider -than the part of the strait crossed by a draw-bridge. - -“Elle (Chalcis) est située dans un endroit où à la faveur de deux -promontoires qui s’avançent de part et d’autre, les côtes de l’île -touchent presque à celles de Bèotie. - -“Ce leger intervalle, qu’on appelle Euripe, est en partie comblé par -une digue. A chacune de ses extrémités est une tour pour le défendre, -et un pont-lever pour laisser passer un vaisseau.” BARTHELEMY, VOYAGES -D’ANACHARSIS, tom. ii. p. 82. - -[124] _Where first their tuneful inspiration flow’d._] That is, on mount -Helicon. Both Le Clerc and Robinson unaccountably refer the term ενθα, -where, to Chalcis: and regard this passage as contradictory to that in -the proem to the Theogony: whereas the one confirms the other. - -[125] - - _When from the summer-tropic fifty days_ - _Have roll’d._] - -If no verses be wanting here, Hesiod truly needs not boast of his -skill in nautical affairs. For what can be more absurd than to confine -all navigation within fifty days, and those beginning from the -summer-solstice; especially as the summer solstice fell on the 3d of -July? I should suppose that there was a deficiency of two verses to this -effect: - - Before the summer-tropic fifty days - Thy keel may safely plough the azure ways. - -The similarity of the lines may have caused the copyist’s omission of -the two former. I am aware that the art of navigation was in that -age imperfect: but if sea-faring men had learnt from experience that -navigation was safe fifty days _after_ the summer solstice, they could -have learnt from the same teacher that it was equally safe fifty days -_before_ it: namely, in the months of May and June. LE CLERC. - -[126] _Men, too, may sail in spring._] What the poet says here of a -spring voyage, I understand of that which may be made in the month of -April: which is not much less liable to gales and storms than even the -winter months. Certainly it was in April that the fig-tree began to be in -leaf. LE CLERC. - -[127] _And wed the fifth of her expanded bloom._] She begins to bloom in -her twelfth year. Let her wed in the fifth year of her puberty; that is, -in her sixteenth. GUIETUS. - -Robinson, not considering the difference of climate, supposes that the -fourteenth year is the first of her puberty, and that she is directed to -wed in her nineteenth. - -[128] _Shall send a fire thy vigorous bones within._] A virtuous woman is -a crown to her husband, but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in -his bones. PROVERBS, xii. 4. - -[129] _Nor lie with idle tongue._] Devise not a lie against thy brother, -neither do the like to thy friend. ECCLESIASTICUS, vii. 12. - -[130] _Chastise his sin._] Far more liberal is the counsel of the son of -Sirach: - -Admonish a friend: it may be, he hath not done it; and if he have done -it, that he may do it no more. - -Admonish thy friend: it may be he hath not said it; and if he have, that -he speak it not again. - -Admonish a friend, for many times it is a slander; and believe not every -tale. - -There is one that slippeth in his speech, but not from his heart: and who -is he, that hath not offended with his tongue? - -ECCLESIASTICUS, xix. - -Cicero says elegantly, “Care is to be taken lest friendships convert -themselves even into grievous enmities: whence arise bickerings, -backbitings, contumelies: these are yet to be borne, if they be -bearable: and this compliment should be paid to the ancient friendship, -that the person in fault should be he that inflicts the injury, not he -that suffers it.” DE AMICITIA, c. 21. - -The author of the Pythagorean “golden verses” has a line which deserves -indeed to be written in letters of gold: - - Hate not thy tried friend for a slender fault. - -This is probably one of the maxims of Hesiod which induced La Harpe to -observe, “Cette morale n’est pas toujours la meilleure du monde.” LYCÉE, -tom. i. Hésiode. - -[131] _Rebuke not want._] Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker. -PROVERBS, xvii. 5. - -[132] _Lo! the best treasure is a frugal tongue._] In the multitude of -words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. The -tongue of the just is as choice silver. PROVERBS, x. 19, 20. - -[133] _When many guests combine._] There were two sorts of -entertainments among the ancient Grecians: the first was provided at -the expense of one man, the second was at the common charge of all -present: at the latter some of the guests occasionally contributed more -than their exact proportion. These were generally most frequented, and -are recommended by the wise men of those times as most apt to promote -friendship and good neighbourhood. They were for the most part managed -with more order and decency, because the guests who ate of their own -collation were usually more sparing than when they were feasted at -another man’s expense; as we are informed by Eustathius. So different was -their behaviour at the public feasts from that at private entertainments, -that Minerva, in Homer, having seen the intemperance and unseemly actions -of Penelope’s courtiers, concludes their entertainment was not provided -at the common charge. - - Behold I here - A banquet, or a nuptial feast? for these - Meet not by contribution to regale; - With such brutality and din they hold - Their riotous banquet. - - COWPER, _Odyss._ l. - -POTTER, _Archæologia Græca_. - -[134] _The feast of gods._] A sacrifice was followed by a general -banquet, and the tables were spread in the temple itself. The gods were -supposed invisibly to be present. Thus we are to explain their visit to -the Æthiopians in Homer, Il. i: - - For to the banks of the Oceanus - Where Æthiopia holds a feast to Jove - He journied yesterday; with whom the gods - Went also. - - COWPER. - -[135] _Ne’er to thy five-branch’d hand apply the blade._] This precept is -somewhat obscurely expressed, like the symbols of Pythagoras: that things -of no value might appear to involve a mysterious importance. Hesiod seems -to intimate that we should not choose the precise time of the feast for -washing the hands and paring the nails, but sit down to table with hands -ready washed. No person, indeed, even at a private entertainment, would -have thought of cutting his nails at table, if he did not wish the -parings to fly into the dishes, which I conceive could not have been more -agreeable to the Greeks than to ourselves. LE CLERC. - -[136] _Upon the goblet’s edge._] Robinson supposes a sentiment of -hospitality; that the flaggon is not to stand still. Others suppose -οινοχοη to be a bowl used only in libation, and which it was indecent -to prostitute to common use. But for this there seems not the least -authority. - -“All the allegorical glosses invented by the latter Greeks to varnish -over the doting superstitions of their ancestors are utterly destitute of -verisimilitude. Even in our day traces of the old superstitions remain in -many places. There are people, for instance, who think it a bad omen if -the loaf be inverted, so that the flat part is uppermost; if the knives -be laid across, or the salt spilt on the table. It would be just as easy -to find a mystical sense in these, as in the idle fancies of Hesiod.” LE -CLERC. - -[137] _Unhallow’d vessels._] There is here an allusion to the ancient -custom of purifying new vessels and consecrating them to a happy use; or, -as we say, blessing them. GUIETUS. - -Le Clerc imagines a prohibition against seizing the flesh from the -tripods before a sacrifice, which he illustrates by the offence of the -sons of Eli, 1 Sam. ii. 13; but what has the bathing to do with this? - -[138] _On moveless stones._] By ακινητα, immoveable things, he appears -to mean the ground or stones, which are cold and hard; or by sitting on -immoveable things we may understand habits of sloth. GUIETUS. - -Proclus interprets the word to mean sepulchres, which it was unlawful -to move: but on the same grounds it may be interpreted land-marks. One -should rather understand by it any sort of stones; Hesiod preferring that -a boy should be placed on wooden slabs that might be moved about. But the -being placed on a stone could not be more hurtful to him on the twelfth -day or month than at any other period of his childhood. This was a mere -superstition; and we may as well seek to interpret the dreams of a man -who is light-headed. LE CLERC. - -[139] _The thirtieth of the moon._] That is, the last day of each month; -for the most ancient Greeks, as well as the Orientals, employed lunar -months of thirty days. LE CLERC. - -The Greek month was divided into τρια δεκημερα, three decades of days. -The first was called μηνος αρχομενου or ισταμενου; the second, μηνος -μησουντος; and the third, μηνος φθινοντος, παυομενου, or ληγοντος: the -beginning month, the middle month, the declining or ending month. The -words were put in the genitive case because some day was placed before -them. Thus the middle-first or first of the second decade was the -eleventh of the whole month; and the first of the end, or of the last -decade, was the twenty-first: the twenty-ninth was called εικας μεγαλη, -the great twentieth. The French Republican calendar was formed on the -Greek model. - -[140] _What time the people to the courts repair._] The forenoon was -distinguished by the time of the court of judicature sitting, as in this -passage of Hesiod; the afternoon by the time of its breaking up, as in -the following of Homer: - - At what hour the judge, - After decision made of numerous strifes - Between young candidates for honour, leaves - The forum, for refreshment’s sake at home. - - COWPER, _Odyss._ xii. - -[141] _Beware the fifth._] Virgil copies this, as well as some other of -these superstitions, Georg. i. 275: - - For various works behold the moon declare - Some days more fortunate: the fifth beware: - Pale Orcus and the Furies then sprang forth— - ... - Next to the tenth the seventh to luck inclines - For taming oxen and for planting vines: - Then best her woof the prudent housewife weaves: - Better for flight the ninth; averse to thieves. - - WARTON. - - - - - -The Theogony. - - - - -THE THEOGONY. - - -The Argument. - -The proem is a rhapsody in honour of the Muses. It opens with a -description of their solemn dances on mount Helicon, and of the hymns -which they sing during their nightly visitation of earth. The poet then -relates their appearance to himself, and his consequent inspiration; -describes their employments in heaven; their birth and dignity; their -influence on kings or magistrates, minstrels and bards; and finishes -with invoking their assistance and proposing his subject. The COSMOGONY, -or origin of nature, then commences, and blends into the THEOGONY, or -generation of gods, which is continued through the whole poem, and -concludes with the race of demi-gods, or those born from the loves of -goddesses and mortals. The following legendary traditions are interwoven -episodically with the main subject. I. The imprisonment of his children -by URANUS or HEAVEN in a subterranean cave; and the consequent conspiracy -of EARTH and CRONUS, or SATURN. II. The concealment of the infant -JUPITER. III. The impiety and punishment of Prometheus. IV. The creation -of PANDORA, or WOMAN. V. The war of the GODS and TITANS. VI. The combat -of JUPITER with the giant TYPHÆUS. - - -THE THEOGONY. - - Begin we from the Muses oh my song! - Muses of Helicon: their dwelling-place - The mountain vast and holy: where around - The altar of high Jove and fountain dark - From azure depth, [142]they lightly leap in dance - With delicate feet; and having duly bathed - Their tender bodies in Permessian streams, - [143]In springs that gush’d fresh from the courser’s hoof, - Or blest Olmius’ waters, many a time - Upon the topmost ridge of Helicon - Their elegant and amorous dances thread, - And smite the earth with strong-rebounding feet. - Thence breaking forth tumultuous, and enwrapt - With the deep mist of air, they onward pass - Nightly, and utter, as they sweep on high, - A voice in stilly darkness beautiful. - They hymn the praise of Ægis-wielding Jove, - And Juno, named of Argos, who august - In golden sandals walks: and her, whose eyes - Glitter with azure light, Minerva born - From Jove: Apollo, [144]sire of prophecy, - And Dian gladden’d by the twanging bow: - Earth-grasping Neptune, shaker of earth’s shores: - Majestic Themis and Dione fair: - [145]And Venus twinkling bland her tremulous lids: - Hebe, her brows with golden fillet bound: - Morn, the vast Sun, and the resplendent Moon: - Latona and Japetus: and him - Of crooked wisdom, Saturn: and the Earth: - And the huge Ocean, and the sable Night - And all the sacred race of deities - Existing ever. They to HESIOD erst - Have taught their stately song: the whilst he fed - His lambs beneath the holy Helicon. - And thus the goddesses, th’ Olympian maids - Whose sire is Jove, first hail’d me in their speech; - “Shepherds! that tend in fields the fold; ye shames! - [146]Ye fleshly appetites! the Muses hear: - ’Tis we can utter fictions veil’d like truths, - Or, if we list, speak truths without a veil.” - So said the daughters of the mighty Jove, - Sooth-speaking maids: and gave unto my hand - A rod of marvellous growth, [147]a laurel-bough - Of blooming verdure; and within me breathed - A heavenly voice, that I might utter forth - All past and future things: and bade me praise - The blessed race of ever-living gods: - And ever first and last the Muses sing. - Away then—why [148]this tale of oaks and rocks? - Begin we from the Muses oh my song! - They the great spirit of their father Jove - Delight in heaven: their tongues symphonious breathe - All past, all present, and all future things: - Sweet, inexhaustible, from every mouth - That voice flows on: the Thunderer’s palace laughs - With scatter’d melody of honied sounds - From the breathed voice of goddesses, and all - The snow-topp’d summits of Olympus ring, - The mansions of immortals. They send forth - Their undecaying voice, and in their songs - Proclaim before all themes the race of gods - From the beginning: the majestic race, - Whom earth and awful heaven endow’d with life: - And all the deities who sprang from these, - Givers of blessings. Then again they change - The strain to Jove, the sire of gods and men: - Him praise the choral goddesses: him first - And last: with rising and with ending song: - How excellent he is above all gods, - And in his power most mighty. Once again - They sing the race of men, and giants strong; - And soothe the soul of Jupiter in heaven. - They, daughters of high Jove: Olympian maids: - Whom erst Mnemosyne, protecting queen - Of rich Eleuther’s fallows, in embrace - With Jove their sire amidst [149]Pieria’s groves - Conceived: of ills forgetfulness; to cares - Rest: thrice three nights did counsel-shaping Jove - Melt in her arms, apart from eyes profane - Of all immortals to the sacred couch - Ascending: and when now the year was full, - When moons had wax’d and waned, and reasons roll’d, - And days were number’d, she, some space remote - From where Olympus highest towers in snow, - [150]Bare the nine maids, with souls together knit - In harmony: whose thought is only song: - Within whose bosoms dwells th’ unsorrowing mind. - There on the mount they shine in troops of dance, - And dwell in beautified abodes: and nigh - The Graces also dwell, and Love himself, - And hold the feast. But they through parted lips - Send forth a lovely voice; they sing the laws - Of universal heaven; the manners pure - Of deathless gods, and lovely is their voice. - Anon they bend their footsteps tow’rds the mount, - Rejoicing in their beauteous voice and song - Unperishing: far round the dusky earth - Rings with their hymning voices, and beneath - Their many-rustling feet a pleasant sound - Ariseth, as tumultuous pass they on - To greet their heavenly sire. He reigns in heaven, - The bolt and glowing lightning in his grasp, - Since by the strong ascendant of his arm - Saturn his father fell: he to the gods - Appoints the laws, and he their honours names. - So sing the Muses; dwellers on the mount - Of heaven: nine daughters of the mighty Jove: - Melpomene, Euterpe, Erato, - Polymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, - Urania, Clio, and Calliope: - The chiefest she: who walks upon the steps - Of kingly judges in their majesty: - And whomsoe’er of heavenly-nurtured kings - Jove’s daughters will to honour, looking down - With smiling aspect on his cradled head - They pour a gentle dew upon his tongue: - And words, as honey sweet, drop from his lips. - To him the people look: on him all eyes - Wait awful, who in righteousness discerns - The ways of judgment: in a single breath, - Utter’d with knowledge, ends the mightiest strife, - And all is peace. The wisdom this of kings: - That in their judgment-hall they from the oppress’d - Turn back the tide of ills, retrieving wrongs - With mild accost of [151]soothing eloquence. - On him, the judge and king, when passing forth - Among the city-ways, all reverent look - With a mild worship, as he were a god: - And in [152]the great assembly first is he. - Such is the Muses’ goodly gift to man. - The Muses, and Apollo darting far - The arrows of his splendour, raise on earth - [153]Harpers and men of song: but kings arise - From Jove himself. Oh blessed is the man - Whome’er the Muses love! sweet is the voice - That from his lips flows ever. [154]Is there one - Who hides some fresh grief in his wounded mind - And mourns with aching heart? but he, the bard, - [155]The servant of the Muse, awakes the song - To deeds of men of old, and blessed gods - That dwell on mount Olympus. Straight he feels - His sorrow stealing in forgetfulness: - Nor of his griefs remembers aught: so soon - The Muse’s gift has turn’d his woes away. - Daughters of Jove! all hail! but oh inspire - The lovely song! record the heavenly race - Of gods existing ever: those who sprang - From earth and starry heaven and murky night, - And whom the salt deep quicken’d. Say how first - The gods and earth became: how rivers flow’d: - Th’ unbounded sea raged high in foamy swell, - The stars shone forth, and overhead the sky - Spread its broad arch: and say from these what gods, - Givers of blessings, sprang: and how they shared - Heaven’s splendid attributes and parted out - Distinct their honours: and how first they fix’d - Their dwelling midst Olympus’ winding vales: - Tell, oh ye Muses! ye who also dwell - In mansions of Olympus: tell me all - From the beginning: say who first arose. - [156]First of all beings Chaos was: and next - Wide-bosom’d Earth, the seat for ever firm - Of all th’ immortals, whose abode is placed - Among the mount Olympus’ snow-top’d heads, - [157]Or in the dark abysses of the ground: - Then Love most beauteous of immortals rose: - He of each god and mortal man at once - Unnerves the limbs, dissolves the wiser breast - By reason steel’d, and quells the very soul. - From Chaos, Erebus and sable Night: - From Night arose the Sunshine and the Day: - Offspring of Night from Erebus’ embrace. - Earth first conceived with Heaven: whose starry cope, - Like to herself immense, might compass her - On every side: and be to blessed gods - A resting-place immoveable for ever. - She teem’d with the high Hills, the pleasant haunts - Of goddess nymphs, who dwell within the glens - Of mountains. With no aid of tender love - She gave to birth the sterile Sea, high-swol’n - In raging foam: and, Heaven-embraced, anon - She teem’d with Ocean, rolling in deep whirls - His vast abyss of waters. Crœus, then, - Cæus, Hyperion, and Iäpetus, - Themis, and Thea rose; Mnemosyne, - And Rhea; Phœbe diadem’d with gold, - And love-inspiring Tethys: and of these, - Youngest in birth, the wily Saturn came, - The sternest of her sons; for he abhorr’d - The sire who gave him life. Then brought she forth - [158]The Cyclops brethren, arrogant of heart, - Undaunted Arges, Brontes, Steropes: - Who forged the lightning shaft, and gave to Jove - His thunder: they were like unto the gods: - Save that a single ball of sight was fix’d - In their mid-forehead. Cyclops was their name, - From that round eye-ball in their brow infix’d: - And strength and force and manual craft were theirs. - Others again were born from Earth and Heaven: - Three giant sons: strong, dreadful but to name, - Children of glorying valour: Briareus, - Cottus and Gyges: from whose shoulders burst - A hundred arms that mock’d approach, and o’er - Their limbs hard-sinew’d fifty heads upsprang: - Mighty th’ immeasurable strength display’d - In each gigantic stature: and of all - The children born to earth and heaven these sons - Were dreadfullest: and they, e’en from the first, - Drew down their father’s hate: as each was born - He seized them all, and hid them in th’ abyss - Of Earth: nor e’er released them to the light. - Heaven in his evil deed rejoiced: vast Earth - Groan’d inly, sore aggrieved: but soon devised - A stratagem of mischief and of fraud. - Sudden creating for herself a kind - Of whiter iron, she with labour framed - A scythe enormous: and address’d her sons: - She spoke emboldening words, though grieved at heart. - “My sons! alas! ye children of a sire - Most impious, now obey a mother’s voice: - So shall we well avenge the fell despite - Of him your father, who the first devised - Deeds of injustice.” While she said, on all - Fear fell: nor utterance found they, till with soul - Embolden’d, wily Saturn huge address’d - His awful mother. “Mother! be the deed - My own: thus pledged I will most sure achieve - This feat: nor heed I him, our sire, of name - Detested: for that he the first devised - Deeds of injustice.” Thus he said, and Earth - Was gladden’d at her heart. She planted him - In ambush dark and secret: in his grasp - She placed the sharp-tooth’d scythe, and tutor’d him - In every wile. Vast Heaven came down from high, - And with him brought the gloominess of Night - On all beneath: with ardour of embrace - Hovering o’er Earth, in his immensity - He lay diffused around. The son stretch’d forth - His weaker hand from ambush: in his right - [159]He took the sickle huge and long and rough - With sharpen’d teeth: and hastily he reap’d - The genial organs of his sire, at once - Cut sheer: then cast behind him far away. - They not in vain escaped his hold: for Earth - Received the blood-drops, and as years roll’d round - Teem’d with strong furies and with giants huge, - Shining in mail, and grasping in their hands - Protended spears: and wood-nymphs, named of men - Dryads, o’er all th’ immeasurable earth. - So severing, as was said, with edge of steel - The genial spoils, he from the continent - Amidst the many surges of the sea - Hurl’d them. Full long they drifted o’er the deeps: - Till now swift-circling a white foam arose - From that immortal substance, and a nymph - Was quicken’d in the midst. The wafting waves - First bore her to Cythera’s heavenly coast: - Then reach’d she Cyprus, girt with flowing seas, - And forth emerged a goddess, in the charms - Of awful beauty. Where her delicate feet - Had press’d the sands, green herbage flowering sprang. - Her Aphrodite gods and mortals name, - [160]The foam-born goddess: and her name is known, - As Cytherea with the blooming wreath, - For that she touch’d Cythera’s flowery coast: - And Cypris, for that on the Cyprian shore - She rose, amidst the multitude of waves: - And Philomedia, from the source of life. - [161]Love track’d her steps; and beautiful Desire - Pursued, while soon as born she bent her way - Towards heaven’s assembled gods: her honours these - From the beginning: whether gods or men - Her presence bless, to her the portion fell - Of [162]virgin whisperings and alluring smiles, - And smooth deceits, and gentle ecstasy, - And dalliance, and the blandishments of love. - But the great Heaven, rebuking those his sons - That issued from his loins, new-named them now - Titans: and said that they avenging dared - A crime; but retribution was behind. - Abhorred Fate and dark Necessity - And Death were born from Night: by none embraced - These gloomy Night brought self-conceiving forth: - And Sleep and all the hovering host of dreams. - [163]Then bare she Momus; Care, still brooding sad - On many griefs; and next [164]th’ Hesperian maids, - Whose charge o’er-sees the fruits of blooming gold - Beyond the sounding ocean, the fair trees - Of golden fruitage. Then the Destinies - Arose, and Fates in vengeance pitiless: - Clotho, and Lachesis, and Atropos: - Who at the birth of men dispense the lot - Of good and evil. They of men and gods - The crimes pursue, nor ever pause from wrath - Tremendous, till destructive on the head - Of him that sins the retribution fall. - Then teem’d pernicious Night with Nemesis, - The scourge of mortal men: again she bare - Fraud and lascivious Love: slow-wasting Age, - And still-persisting Strife. From hateful Strife - Came sore Affliction and Oblivion drear: - Famine and weeping Sorrows: Combats, Wars, - And Slaughters, and all Homicides: and Brawls, - And Bickerings, and deluding Lies: with them - Perverted Law and galling Injury, - Inseparable mates: and the dread Oath; - A mighty bane to him of earth-born men - Who wilful swears, and perjured is forsworn. - The Sea with Earth embracing, Nereus rose, - [165]Eldest of all his race: unerring seer, - And true: with filial veneration named - Ancient of Years: for mild and blameless he: - Remembering still the right; still merciful - As just in counsels. [166]Then rose Thaumas vast, - [167]Phorcys the mighty, Ceto fair of cheek, - And stern Eurybia, of an iron soul. - From Nereus and the fair-hair’d Doris, nymph - Of ocean’s perfect stream, the lovely race - Of goddess Nereids rose to light, whose haunt - Is midst the waters of the sterile main: - Eucrate, Proto, Thetis, Amphitrite, - Love-breathing Thália, Sao, and Eudora, - And Spio, skimming with light feet the wave: - Galene, Glauce, and Cymothöe: - Agave, and the graceful Melita: - [168]Rose-arm’d Eunice, and Eulimene: - Pasithea, Doto, Erato, Pherusa, - Nesæa, Cranto, and Dynamene: - Protomedía, Doris, and Actæa: - And Panope, and Galatæa fair: - Rose-arm’d Hipponöe: soft Hippothöe: - Cymodoce who calms, at once, the waves - Of the dark sea, and blasts of heaven-breathed winds: - With whom Cymatolége, and the nymph - Of beauteous ankles Amphitrite glide: - Cymo, Eïone, Liagore, - And Halimede, with her sea-green wreath: - Pontoporïa, and Polynome; - Evagore, and blithe Glauconome: - Laomedía, and Evarne blest - With gracious nature and with faultless form: - Lysianassa, and Autonome, - And Psamathe, with shape of comeliness: - Divine Menippe, Neso, and Themistho: - And Pronöe, and Eupompe, and Nemertes: - Full of her deathless sire’s prophetic soul. - These sprang from blameless Nereus: [169]Nereid nymphs: - Who midst the waters ply their blameless tasks. - Electra, nymph of the deep-flowing ocean, - Embraced with Thaumas: rapid Iris thence - Rose, and Aëllo and Ocypetes, - [170]The sister-harpies, fair with streaming locks: - Who track the breezy winds and flights of birds, - On wings of swiftness hovering nigh the heaven. - Then Ceto, fair of cheek, to Phorcys bore - [171]The Graiæ; from their birth-hour gray: and hence - Their name with gods, and men that walk the earth: - Long-robed Pephredo, saffron-veil’d Enýo: - And Gorgons dwelling on the brink of night - Beyond the sounding main: where silver-voiced - Th’ Hesperian maidens in their watches sing: - Stheno, Euryale, Medusa these: - The last ill-fated, since of mortal date: - The two immortal, and unchanged by years. - Yet her alone the blue-hair’d god of waves - Enfolded, on the tender meadow grass, - And bedded flowers of spring: [172]when Perseus smote - Her neck, and snatch’d the sever’d bleeding head, - [173]The great Chrysaor then leap’d into life: - [174]And Pegasus the steed; who born beside - [175]Old Nilus’ fountains thence derived a name. - Chrysaor, grasping in his hands a sword - Of gold, flew upward on the winged horse: - And left beneath him earth, mother of flocks, - And soar’d to heaven’s immortals: and there dwells - In palaces of Jove, and to the god - Deep-counsell’d bears the bolt and arrowy flame. - Chrysaor with Callirhöe, blending love, - Nymph of sonorous ocean, [176]Geryon rose, - Three headed form: him the strong Hercules - Despoil’d of life among his hoof-cloven herds - On Erythia, girdled by the wave: - What time those oxen ample-brow’d he drove - To sacred Tyrinth, the broad ocean frith - Once past: and Orthrus, the grim herd-dog, stretch’d - Lifeless; and in their murky den beyond - The billows of the long-resounding deep, - The keeper of those herds, Eurytion, slain. - Another monster Ceto bare anon - [177]In the deep-hollow’d cavern of a rock: - Stupendous nor in shape resembling aught - Of human or of heavenly; the divine - Echidna, the untameable of soul: - Above, a nymph with beauty-blooming cheeks, - And eyes of jetty lustre; but below, - A speckled serpent horrible and huge, - Gorged with blood-banquets, monstrous, hid in caves - Of sacred earth. There in the uttermost depth - Her cavern is, within a vaulted rock: - Alike from mortals and immortals deep - Remote: the gods have there decreed her place - In mansions known to fame. So pent beneath - The rocks of Arima Echidna dwelt - Hideous: a nymph immortal, and in youth - Unchanged for evermore. But legends tell, - That with the jet-eyed nymph Typhaon mix’d - His fierce embrace: [178]a whirlwind rude and wild: - She, fill’d with love, conceived a progeny - Of strain undaunted. Geryon’s dog of herds, - Orthrus, the first arose: the second birth, - Unutterable, was the dog of hell: - Blood-fed and brazen-voiced, and bold and strong, - [179]The fifty-headed Cerberus; and third - Upsprang the Hydra, pest of Lerna’s lake: - Whom Juno, white-arm’d goddess, fostering rear’d - With deep resentment fill’d, insatiable, - ’Gainst Hercules: but he, the son of Jove, - Named of Amphytrion, in the dragon’s gore - Bathed his unpitying steel: by warlike aid - Of Iolaus, and the counsels high - Of Pallas the Despoiler. Last came forth - [180]Chimæra, breathing fire unquenchable: - A monster grim and huge, and swift and strong: - Her’s were three heads: a glaring lion’s one: - One of a goat: a mighty snake’s the third: - In front the lion threatened, and behind - The serpent, and the goat was in the midst, - Exhaling fierce the strength of burning flame. - But the wing’d Pegasus his rider bore, - The brave Bellerophon, and laid her dead. - She, grasp’d by forced embrace of Orthrus, gave - [181]Depopulating Sphinx, the mortal plague - Of Cadmian nations: and the lion bare - Named of Nemæa. Him Jove’s glorious spouse - To fierceness rear’d: and placed his secret lair - Among Nemæa’s hills, the pest of men. - There lurking in his haunts he long ensnared - The roving tribes of man, and held stern sway - O’er cavern’d Tretum: o’er the mountain heights - Of Apesantus, and Nemæa’s wilds: - Till strong Alcides quell’d his gasping strength. - Now Ceto, in embrace with Phorcys, bare - Her youngest born: the dreadful snake, that couch’d - In the dark earth’s abyss, his wide domain, - Holds o’er the golden apples wakeful guard. - [182]Tethys to Ocean brought the rivers forth, - In whirlpool waters roll’d: Eridanus - Deep-eddied, and Alpheus, and the Nile: - Fair-flowing Ister, Strymon, and Meander, - Phasis and Rhesus: Achelous bright - With silver-circled tides: Heptaporus, - And Nessus: Haliacmon and Rhodíus: - Granícus and the heavenly Simois: - Æsapus, Hermus, and Sangarius vast: - Penéus, and Caicus smoothly flowing: - And Ladon, and Parthenius, and Evenus: - Ardescus, and Scamander the divine. - Then bore she a blest race of Naiad nymphs, - Who with the rivers and the king of day - O’er the wide earth [183]claim the shorn locks of youth: - Their portion this and privilege from Jove. - Admete, Pitho, Doris and Ianthe: - Urania heavenly-fair: and Clymene: - Prymno, Electra, and Calliröe: - Rhodía, Hippo, and Pasithöe: - Plexaure, Clytie, and Melobosis: - Idya, Thöe, Xeuxo, Galaxaure: - And amiable Dione, and Circeis - Of nature soft, and Polydora fair; - [184]And Ploto, with the bright dilated eyes: - Perseis, Ianira, and Acaste: - Xanthe, the sweet Petræa, saffron-robed - Telestho, Metis, and Eurynome: - And Crisie, and Menestho, and Europa: - Lovely Calypso, Amphiro, Eudora: - Asia, and Tyche, and Ocyröe: - And Styx, the chief of oceanic streams. - The daughters these of Tethys and of Ocean, - The eldest-born: for more untold remain: - Three-thousand graceful Oceanides - [185]Long-stepping tread the earth: or far and wide - Dispersed, they haunt [186]the glassy depth of lakes, - A glorious sisterhood of goddess birth. - As many rivers also, yet untold, - Rushing with hollow-dashing echoes, rose - From awful Tethys: but their every name - Is not for mortal man to memorate, - Arduous; yet known to all the borderers round. - Now Thia, yielding to Hyperion’s arms, - Bare the great Sun and the refulgent Moon: - And Morn, that scatters wide the rosy light - To men that walk the earth, and deathless gods - Whose mansion is yon ample firmament. - Eurybia, noble goddess, blending love - With Crius, gave the great Astræus birth, - Pallas the god, and Perses, wise in lore. - The Morning to Astræus bare the Winds - Of spirit untamed: [187]East, West, and South, and North - Cleaving his rapid course: a goddess thus - Embracing with a god. Last, Lucifer - Sprang radiant from the dawn-appearing Morn: - And all the glittering stars that gird the heaven. - Styx, ocean-nymph, with Pallas mingling love, - Bare Victory, whose feet are beautiful - In palaces: and Zeal, and Strength, and Force, - Illustrious children. [188]Not apart from Jove - Their mansion is: nor is there seat, or way, - But he before them in his glory sits - Or passes forth: and where the Thunderer is, - Their place is found for ever. So devised - The nymph of Ocean, the eternal Styx: - What time the Lightning-sender call’d from heaven, - And summon’d all th’ immortal deities - To broad Olympus’ top: then thus he spake: - “Hear all ye gods! That god who wars with me - Against the Titans, shall retain the gifts - Which Saturn gave, and honours heretofore - His portion midst th’ immortals: and whoe’er - Unhonour’d and ungifted has repined - Under Saturnian sway, the same shall rise, - “As just it is, to honours and rewards.” - Then first of every power eternal Styx, - Sway’d by the careful counsels of her sire, - Stood on Olympus, and her sons beside: - Her Jove received with honour, and endow’d - With goodly gifts: ordain’d her the great oath - Of deities: her sons for evermore - Indwellers with himself. Alike to all, - Even as he pledged that sacred word, the god - Perform’d; so reigns he, strong in power and might. - Now Phœbe sought the love-delighting couch - Of Cœus: so within a god’s embrace - Conceived the goddess. Then arose to life - The azure-robed Latona: ever mild: - Gracious to man and to immortal gods: - Mild from the first beginning of the world: - Gentlest of all within th’ Olympian courts. - Anon she bare [189]Asteria, blest in fame: - Whom Perses to his spacious palace led, - That he might call her spouse: and [190]she conceived - With Hecaté. Her o’er all others Jove - Hath honour’d, and endow’d with splendid gifts: - With power on earth and o’er the untill’d sea: - Nor less her glory from the starry heaven, - Chief honour’d by immortals: and if one - Of earthly men performing the due rite - Of victim divination, would appease - The gods above, he calls on Hecaté: - To him, whose prayer the goddess gracious hears, - High honour comes spontaneous, and to him - She yields all affluence; for the power is hers. - Whatever gods, the sons of heaven and earth, - Shared honour at the hands of Jove, o’er all - [191]Her wide allotment stands: nor whatsoe’er - Of rank she held, midst the old Titan gods, - Has Saturn’s son invaded or deprived; - As was the ancient heritage of power - So hers remains: e’en from the first of things. - Nor is [192]her solitary birth reproach: - Nor less, though singly born, her rank and power - In heaven and earth and main, but higher meed - Of glory, since her honour is from Jove. - She, in the greatness of her power, is nigh - With aid to whom she lists: whoe’er she wills - O’er the great council of the people shines: - And when the mailed men arise to wage - Destroying battle, she to whom she lists - Is present, yielding victory and fame; - And on the judgment-seat with awful kings - She sits; and when in the gymnastic strife - Men struggle, the propitious goddess comes - Present with aid: then easily the man, - Conqueror in hardiment and strength, obtains - The graceful wreath, and glad-triumphing sheds - [193]A gleam of glory o’er his parents’ days. - She, as she lists, is nigh to charioteers - Who strive with steeds: and voyagers who cleave - Through the blue watery vast th’ untractable way. - They call upon the name of Hecaté - With vows: and his, loud-sounding god of waves, - Earth-shaker Neptune. Easily at will - The glorious goddess yields the woodland prey - Abundant: easily, while scarce they start - On the mock’d vision, snatches them in flight. - She too with Hermes is propitious found - To herd and fold: and bids increase the droves - Innumerable of goats and woolly flocks, - And swells their numbers or their numbers thins. - And thus, although her mother’s lonely child, - She midst th’ immortals shares all attributes. - Her Jove appointed nursing-mother bland - Of babes, who after her to morn’s broad light - Should lift the tender lid: so from the first - The foster-nurse of babes: her honours these. - Embraced by Saturn, Rhea gave to light - Illustrious children. [194]Golden-sandal’d Juno, - [195]Ceres, and Vesta: [196]Pluto strong, who dwells - In mansions under earth: of ruthless heart; - [197]Earth-shaker Neptune, loud with dashing waves: - And [198]Jupiter th’ all-wise: the sire of gods - And men; beneath whose crashing thunder-peal - The wide earth rocks in elemental war. - But them, as issuing from the sacred womb - They touch’d the mother’s knees, did Saturn huge - Devour: revolving in his troubled thought - Lest other one of beings heavenly-born - Usurp the kingly honours. For from earth - And starry heaven the rumour met his ear, - That it was doom’d by Fate, strong though he were, - [199]To his own son he should bow down his strength. - Jove’s wisdom this fulfill’d. No blind design - He therefore cherish’d, and in crooked craft - Devour’d his children. But on Rhea prey’d - Never-forgotten anguish. When the time - Was full, and Jove, the sire of gods and men, - Came to the birth, her parents she besought, - Earth and starr’d Heaven, that they should counsel yield - How secretly the babe may spring to life: - And how the father’s furies ’gainst his race - In subtlety devour’d may meet revenge: - They to their daughter listen’d and complied: - Unfolding what the Fates had sure decreed - Of kingly Saturn and his dauntless son: - And her they sent to Lyctus: to the clime - Of fallow’d Crete. Now when her time was come, - The birth of Jove her youngest-born, vast Earth - Took to herself the mighty babe, to rear - With nurturing softness in the spacious isle - Of Crete. So came she then, transporting him - With the swift shades of night, to Lyctus first: - And thence, upbearing in her arms, conceal’d - Beneath the sacred ground, in sunless cave, - Where shagg’d with thickening woods th’ Egæan mount - Impends. Then swathing an enormous stone - She placed it in the hands of Heaven’s huge son, - The ancient king of gods: that stone he snatch’d; - And in his ravening breast convey’d away: - Wretch! nor bethought him that the stone supplied - His own son’s place; survivor in its room, - Unconquer’d and unharm’d: the same, who soon - Subduing him with mightiness of arm, - Should drive him from his state, and reign himself - King of immortals. Swiftly grew the strength - And hardy limbs of that same kingly babe: - And when the great year had fulfill’d its round, - Gigantic Saturn, wily as he was, - Yet foil’d by Earth’s considerate craft, and quell’d - By his son’s arts and strength, released his race: - The stone he first disgorged, the last devour’d: - This Jove on earth’s broad surface firmly fix’d - At Pythos the divine, in the deep cleft - Of high Parnassus: [200]to succeeding times - A monument, and miracle to man. - The brethren of his father too he loosed, - Whom Heaven, their sire, had in his frenzy bound: - They the good deed in grateful memory bore: - And gave the thunder, and the burning bolt, - And lightning, which vast Earth had heretofore - Hid in her central caves. In these confides - The god, and reigns o’er deities and men. - Iäpetus ascends the bed of love - With Clýmene, fair-ankled ocean-nymph: - She brought forth Atlas: her undaunted son: - Glorying Menœtius and Prometheus vers’d - In changeful turns and shifting subtleties: - And Epimetheus of unwary mind: - Who from old time became an evil curse - To man’s inventive race; for he received - The clay-form’d virgin-woman sent from Jove. - All-seeing Jove struck with his smouldering flash - Haughty Menœtius, and cast down to hell; - Shameless in crime and arrogant in strength. - Atlas, enforced by stern necessity, - [201]Props the broad heaven: on earth’s far borders, where - Full opposite th’ Hesperian virgins sing - With shrill sweet voice, he rears his head and hands - Aye unfatiguable: Heaven’s counsellor - So doom’d his lot. But with enduring chains - [202]He bound Prometheus, train’d in shifting wiles, - With galling shackles fixing him aloft - Midway a column. Down he sent from high - His eagle hovering on expanded wings: - She gorged his liver: still beneath her beak - Immortal; for it sprang with life, and grew - In the night-season, and repair’d the waste - Of what the wide-wing’d bird devour’d by day. - But her the fair Alcmena’s hardy son - Slew; from Prometheus drove the cruel plague, - And freed him from his pangs. Olympian Jove, - Who reigns on high, consented to the deed; - That thence yet higher glory might arise, - O’er peopled earth, to Hercules of Thebes: - And in his honour, Jove now made to cease - The wrath he felt before; ’gainst him who strove - In wisdom e’en with Saturn’s mighty son. - Of yore when strife arose for sacrifice, - Twixt gods and men, within Mecona’s walls, - Prometheus wilful [203]parted a huge ox - And set before the god: so tempting him - With purpose to deceive: for here he laid - The unctuous substance, entrails, and the flesh - Close cover’d with the belly of the hide: - There the white bones he craftily disposed; - And with the marrowy substance wrapt them round. - Then spake the father of the gods and men: - “Son of Iäpetus!” thou famous god! - How partial, friend! are thy divided shares!” - So in rebuke spoke Jupiter: whose thoughts - Of wisdom perish not. Then answer’d him - Wily Prometheus, with a laugh suppress’d, - And well remembering his insidious fraud: - “Hail glorious Jove! thou mightiest of the gods - Who shall endure for ever: choose the one - Which now the spirit in thy breast persuades.” - He spoke, revolving treachery. Jove, whose thoughts - Of wisdom perish never, knew the guile, - Not unforewarn’d: and straight his soul devised - Evil to mortals, that should surely be: - He raised the snowy portion with his hands, - And felt his spirit wroth: yea, anger seiz’d - His spirit, when he saw the whitening bones - O’erlaid with cunning artifice: and thence, - E’en from that hour, the dwellers upon earth - Consume the whitening bones, when climbs the smoke - Wreath’d from their flaming altars. Then again - Cloud-gatherer Jove with indignation spake: - “Son of Iäpetus! of all most wise! - Still, friend! rememberest thou thy arts of guile?” - So spake, incensed, the god, whose wisdom yields - To no decay: and from that very hour, - Remembering still the treachery, he denied - The strength of indefatigable fire - To all the dwellers upon earth. But him - Benevolent Prometheus did beguile: - For in a hollow reed he stole from high - The far-seen splendour of unwearied flame. - Then deep resentment stung the Thunderer’s soul; - And his heart chafed in anger, when he saw - The fire far-gleaming in the midst of men. - And for the flame restored, he straight devised - A mischief to mankind. At Jove’s behest - Famed Vulcan fashion’d from the yielding clay - A bashful virgin’s likeness: and the maid - Of azure eyes, Minerva, round her waist - Clasp’d the broad zone, and dress’d her limbs in robe - Of flowing whiteness; placed upon her head - A wondrous veil of variegated threads; - Entwined amidst her hair delicious wreaths - Of verdant herbage and fresh-blooming flowers; - And set a golden mitre on her brow; - Which Vulcan framed, and with adorning hands - Wrought, at the pleasure of his father Jove. - Rich-labour’d figures, marvellous to sight, - Enchased the border: forms of beasts that range - The earth, and fishes of the rolling deep: - Of these innumerable he there had graven; - And exquisite the beauty of his art - Shone in these wonders, like to animals - Moving in breath, with vocal sounds of life. - Now when his plastic hand instead of good - Had framed this beauteous bane, he led her forth - Where were the other gods and mingled men. - She went exulting in her graced array, - Which Pallas, daughter of a mighty sire, - Known by her eyes of azure, had bestow’d. - On gods and men in that same moment seiz’d - The ravishment of wonder, when they saw - The deep deceit, th’ inextricable snare. - From her the sex of tender woman springs: - [204]Pernicious is the race: the woman tribe - Dwell upon earth, a mighty bane to men: - No mates for wasting want, but luxury: - And as within the close-roof’d hive, the drones, - Helpers of sloth, are pamper’d by the bees; - These all the day, till sinks the ruddy sun, - Haste on the wing, “their murmuring labours ply,” - And still cement the white and waxen comb: - Those lurk within the cover’d hive, and reap - With glutted maw the fruits of others’ toil; - Such evil did the Thunderer send to man - In woman’s form, and so he gave the sex, - Ill helpmates of intolerable toils. - Yet more of ill instead of good he gave: - The man who shunning wedlock thinks to shun - The vexing cares that haunt the woman-state, - And lonely waxes old, shall feel the want - Of one to foster his declining years: - Though not his life be needy, yet his death - Shall scatter his possessions to strange heirs, - And aliens from his blood. Or if his lot - Be marriage, and his spouse of modest fame, - Congenial to his heart, e’en then shall ill - For ever struggle with the partial good, - And cling to his condition. But the man, - Who gains the woman of injurious kind, - Lives bearing in his secret soul and heart - Inevitable sorrow: ills so deep - As all the balms of medicine cannot cure. - Therefore it is not lawful to elude - The eye of Heaven, nor mock th’ Omniscient Mind. - For not Prometheus, the benevolent, - Could shun Heaven’s heavy wrath: and vain were all - His arts of various wisdom: vain to ’scape - Necessity, or loose the mighty chain. - When Heaven their sire ’gainst Cottus, Briareus, - And Gyges, felt his moody anger chafe - Within him, sore amazed with that their strength - Immeasurable, their aspect fierce, and bulk - Gigantic, with a chain of iron force - He bound them down; and fix’d their dwelling-place - Beneath the spacious ground: beneath the ground - They dwelt in pain and durance: in th’ abyss - There sitting, where earth’s utmost bound’ries end. - Full long oppress’d with mighty grief of heart - They brooded o’er their woes: but them did Jove - Saturnian, and those other deathless gods - Whom fair-hair’d Rhea bare to Saturn’s love, - By policy of Earth, lead forth again - To light. For she successive all things told: - How with the giant brethren they should win - Conquest and splendid glory. Long they fought - With toil soul-harrowing: they the deities - Titanic and Saturnian: each to each - Opposed, in valour of promiscuous war. - From Othrys’ lofty summit warr’d [205]the host - Of glorious Titans: from Olympus they, - The band of gift-dispensing deities - Whom fair-hair’d Rhea bore to Saturn’s love. - So waged they war soul-harrowing: each with each - Ten years and more the furious battle join’d, - Unintermitted: nor to either host - Was issue of stern strife or end: alike - Did either stretch the limit of the war. - But now when Jove had set before his powers - All things befitting; the repast of gods; - The nectar and ambrosia, in each breast - Th’ heroic spirit kindled: and now all - With nectar and with sweet ambrosia fill’d, - Thus spake the father of the gods and men: - “Hear me! illustrious race of Earth and Heaven! - That what the spirit in my bosom prompts - I now may utter. Long, and day by day, - Confronting each the other, we have fought - For conquest and dominion: Titan gods, - And we the seed of Saturn. Still do ye, - Fronting the Titans in funereal war, - Show mighty strength: invulnerable hands: - Remembering that mild friendship, and those pangs - Remembering, when ye trod the upward way - Back to the light: and by our counsels broke - “The burthening chain, and left the murky gloom.” - He spake: and Cottus brave of soul replied: - “Oh Jove august! not darkly hast thou said: - Nor know we not how excellent thou art - In counsel and in knowledge: thou hast been - Deliverer of immortals from a curse - Of horror: by thy wisdom have we risen, - Oh kingly son of Saturn! from dark gloom - And bitter bonds, unhoping of relief. - Then with persisting spirit and device - Of prudent warfare, shall we still assert - Thy empire midst the fearful fray, and still - In hardy conflict brave the Titan foe.” - He said: the gods, the givers of all good, - Heard with acclaim: nor ever till that hour - So burn’d each breast with ardour to destroy. - All on that day stirr’d up the mighty strife, - Female and male: Titanic gods, and sons - And daughters of old Saturn; and that band - Of giant brethren, whom, from forth th’ abyss - Of darkness under earth, deliverer Jove - Sent up to light: grim forms and strong, with force - Gigantic: arms of hundred-handed gripe - Burst from their shoulders: fifty heads up-sprang, - Cresting their muscular limbs. They thus opposed - In dreadful conflict ’gainst the Titans stood, - In all their sinewy hands [206]wielding aloft - Precipitous rocks. On th’ other side, alert - The Titan phalanx closed: then hands of strength - Join’d prowess, and show’d forth the works of war. - Th’ immeasurable sea tremendous dash’d - With roaring; earth re-echoed; the broad heaven - Groan’d shattering: vast Olympus reel’d throughout - Down to its rooted base beneath the rush - Of those immortals: the [207]dark chasm of hell - Was shaken with the trembling, with the tramp - Of hollow footsteps and strong battle-strokes, - And measureless uproar of wild pursuit. - So they against each other through the air - Hurl’d intermix’d their weapons, scattering groans - Where’er they fell. The voice of armies rose - With rallying shout through the starr’d firmament, - And with a mighty war-cry both the hosts - Encountering closed. Nor longer then did Jove - Curb down his force; but sudden in his soul - There grew dilated strength, and it was fill’d - With his omnipotence: [208]his whole of might - Broke from him, and the godhead rush’d abroad. - The vaulted sky, the mount Olympus, flash’d - With his continual presence; for he pass’d - Incessant forth, and lighten’d where he trod. - Thrown from his nervous grasp the lightnings flew - Reiterated swift; the whirling flash - Cast sacred splendour, and the thunderbolt - Fell. Then on every side the foodful earth - Roar’d in the burning flame, and far and near - The trackless depth of forests crash’d with fire. - Yea—the broad earth burn’d red, the floods of Nile - Glow’d, and the desert waters of the sea. - Round and around the Titans’ earthy forms - Roll’d the hot vapour, and on fiery surge - Stream’d upward, swathing in one boundless blaze - The purer air of heaven. Keen rush’d the light - In quivering splendour from the writhen flash: - Strong though they were, intolerable smote - Their orbs of sight, and with bedimming glare - Scorch’d up their blasted vision. [209]Through the void - Of Erebus, the preternatural flame - Spread, mingling fire with darkness. But to see - With human eye and hear with ear of man - Had been, as on a time [210]the heaven and earth - Met hurtling in mid-air: as nether earth - Crash’d from the centre, and the wreck of heaven - Fell ruining from high. Not less, when gods - Grappled with gods, the shout and clang of arms - Commingled, and the tumult roar’d from heaven. - Shrill rush’d the hollow winds, and roused throughout - A shaking and a gathering dark of dust; - Crushing the thunders from the clouds of air, - Hot thunderbolts and flames, the fiery darts - Of Jove: and in the midst of either host - They bore upon their blast the cry confused - Of battle, and the shouting. For the din - Tumultuous of that sight-appalling strife - Rose without bound. Stern strength of hardy proof - Wreak’d there its deeds, till weary sank the fight. - But first, array’d in battle, front to front, - Full long they stood, and bore the brunt of war. - Amid the foremost, towering in the van, - [211]The war-unsated Gyges, Briareus, - And Cottus, bitterest conflict waged: for they - Successive thrice a hundred rocks in air - Hurl’d from their sinewy grasp: with missile storm - [212]The Titan host o’ershadowing, them they drove, - Vain-glorious as they were, with hands of strength - O’ercoming them, beneath th’ expanse of earth - And bound with galling chains: [213]so far beneath - This earth, as earth is distant from the sky: - So deep the space to darksome Tartarus. - A brazen anvil rushing from the sky - Through thrice three days would toss in airy whirl, - Nor touch this earth, till the tenth sun arose: - Or down earth’s chasm precipitate revolve, - Nor till the tenth sun rose attain [214]the verge - Of Tartarus. A fence of massive brass - Is forged around: around the pass is roll’d - A night of triple darkness; and above - Impend the roots of earth and barren sea. - There the Titanic gods in murkiest gloom - Lie hidden: such the cloud-assembler’s will: - There in a place of darkness, where vast earth - Has end: from thence no egress open lies: - Neptune’s huge hand has closed with brazen gates - The mouth: a wall environs every side. - There Gyges, Cottus, high-souled Briareus, - Dwell vigilant: the faithful sentinels - Of Ægis-bearer Jove. Successive there - The dusky Earth, and darksome Tartarus, - The sterile Ocean, and the starry Heaven, - [215]Arise and end, their source and boundary. - [216]A drear and ghastly wilderness, abhorr’d - E’en by the gods; a vast vacuity: - Might none the space of one slow-circling year - Touch the firm soil, that portal enter’d once, - [217]But him the whirls of vexing hurricanes - Toss to and fro. E’en by immortals loathed - This prodigy of horror. There too stand - The mansions drear of gloomy Night, o’erspread - With blackening vapours: and before the doors - Atlas upholding heaven his forehead rears, - And indefatigable hands. There Night - And Day, near passing, mutual greeting still - Exchange, [218]alternate as they glide athwart - The brazen threshold vast. This enters, that - Forth issues; nor the two can one abode - At once constrain. This passes forth and roams - The round of earth; that in the mansion waits, - Till the due season of her travel come. - Lo! from the one the far-discerning light - Beams upon earthly dwellers; but a cloud - Of pitchy blackness veils the other round: - Pernicious Night: aye-leading in her hand - [219]Sleep, Death’s half-brother: sons of gloomy Night - There hold they habitation, Death and Sleep; - Dread deities: [220]nor them the shining Sun - E’er with his beam contemplates, when he climbs - The cope of heaven, or when from heaven descends. - Of these the one glides gentle o’er the space - Of earth and broad expanse of ocean waves, - Placid to man. The other has a heart - Of iron; yea, the heart within his breast - Is brass, unpitying: whom of men he grasps - Stern he retains: e’en [221]to immortal gods - A foe. The hollow-sounding palaces - Of Pluto strong the subterranean god, - [222]And stern Prosérpina, there full in front - Ascend: a grisly dog, implacable, - Holds watch before the gates: a stratagem - Is his, malicious: them who enter there, - With tail and bended ears he fawning soothes: - But suffers not that they with backward step - Repass: whoe’er would issue from the gates - Of Pluto strong and stern Prosérpina, - For them with marking eye he lurks; on them - Springs from his couch, and pitiless devours. - There, odious to immortals, dreadful Styx - Inhabits: refluent Ocean’s eldest-born: - She from the gods apart for ever dwells - In far-re-echoing mansions, [223]with arch’d roofs - Of loftiest rock o’erhung: and all around - The silver columns lean upon the skies. - Swift-footed Iris, nymph of Thaumas born, - Takes with no frequent embassy her way - O’er the broad main’s expanse, when haply strife - Be risen, and midst the gods dissension sown: - And if there be among th’ Olympian race - Who falsehood utters, [224]Jove sends Iris down - To bring the great oath in a golden ewer: - The far-famed water, from steep, sky-capt rock - Distilling in cold stream. Beneath wide Earth - Abundant from [225]the sacred river-head, - Through shades of blackest night, the Stygian horn - Of ocean flows: a tenth of all the streams - To the dread oath allotted. In nine streams - Circling the round of earth and the broad seas, - With silver whirlpools twined in many a maze, - It falls into the deep: one stream alone - Flows from the rock; a mighty bane to gods. - Who of immortals, that inhabit still - Olympus top’d with snow, [226]libation pours - And is forsworn, he one whole year entire - Lies reft of breath: nor yet approaches once - The nectar’d and ambrosial sweet repast: - But still reclines on the spread festive couch - Mute, breathless; and a mortal lethargy - O’erwhelms him: but, his malady absolved - With the great round of the revolving year, - More ills on ills afflictive seize: nine years - From ever-living deities remote - His lot is cast: in council nor in feast - Once joins he, till nine years entire are full: - The tenth again he mingles with the blest - Societies, who fill th’ Olympian courts. - So great an oath the deities of heaven - Decreed the water of eternal Styx, - The ancient stream; that sweeps with wandering waves - A rugged region: where of dusky Earth, - And darksome Tartarus, and Ocean waste, - And starry Heaven, the source and boundary - Successive rise and end: a dreary wild - And ghastly: e’en by deities abhorr’d. - There gates resplendent rise; the threshold brass; - Immoveable; on deep foundations fix’d; - Self-framed. Before them the Titanic gods - Abide, without th’ assembly of the Blest, - Beyond the gulf of darkness. There beneath - The ocean-roots, th’ auxiliaries renown’d - Of Jove who rolls the hollow-pealing thunder, - Cottus and Gyges in near mansions dwell: - But He that shakes the shores with dashing surge - Hailing him son, gave Briareus as bride - Cymopolía; prize of brave desert. - But now when Jupiter from all the heaven - Had cast the Titans forth, huge Earth embraced - By Tartarus, through balmy Venus’ aid, - [227]Her youngest-born Typhœus bore; whose hands - Of strength are fitted to stupendous deeds: - And indefatigable are the feet - Of the strong god: and from his shoulders rise - A hundred snaky heads of dragon growth, - Horrible, quivering with their blackening tongues: - In each amazing head, from eyes that roll’d - Within their sockets, fire shone sparkling: fire - Blazed from each head, the whilst he roll’d his glance - Glaring around him. In those fearful heads - Were voices of all sound, miraculous: - Now utter’d they distinguishable tones - Meet for the ear of gods: now the deep cry - Of a wild-bellowing bull untamed in strength: - And now the roaring of a lion, fierce - In spirit: and anon the yell of whelps - Strange to the ear: and now the monster hiss’d, - That the high mountains echoed back the sound. - Then had a dread event that fatal day - Inevitable fall’n, and he had ruled - O’er mortals and immortals; but the Sire - Of gods and men the peril instant knew - Intuitive; and vehement and strong - He thunder’d: instantaneous all around - Earth reel’d with horrible crash: the firmament - Of high heaven roar’d: the streams of Nile, the sea, - And uttermost caverns. While the king in wrath - Uprose, [228]beneath his everlasting feet - The great Olympus trembled, and earth groan’d. - From either god a burning radiance caught - The darkly azured ocean: from the flash - Of lightnings, and that monster’s darted flame, - Hot thunderbolts, and blasts of fiery winds. - Earth, air, sea, glow’d: the billows, heaved on high, - Foam’d round the shores, and dash’d on every side - Beneath the rush of gods. Concussion wild - And unappeasable uprose: aghast - The gloomy monarch of th’ infernal dead - Shudder’d: the sub-tartarean Titans heard - E’en where they stood, with Saturn in the midst: - They heard appall’d the unextinguish’d rage - Of tumult, and the din of dreadful war. - But now when Jove had gather’d all his strength, - And grasp’d his weapons, bolts, and bickering flames, - He from the mount Olympus’ topmost ridge - Leap’d at a bound, and smote him: hiss’d at once - The horrible monster’s heads enormous, scorch’d - In one conflagrant blaze. When thus the god - Had quell’d him, thunder-smitten, mangled, prone, - He fell: earth groan’d and shook beneath his weight. - Flame from [229]the lightning-stricken deity - Flash’d, midst the mountain-hollows, rugged, dark, - Where he fell smitten. Broad earth glow’d intense - From that unbounded vapour, and dissolv’d: - As fusile tin by art of youths above - The wide-brimm’d vase up-bubbling foams with heat; - Or iron, hardest of the mine, subdued - By burning flame amidst [230]the woody dales - Melts in the sacred caves beneath the hands - Of Vulcan, so earth melted in the glare - Of blazing fire. He down wide Hell’s abyss - His victim hurl’d in bitterness of soul. - [231]Lo! from Typhœus is the strength of winds - Moist-blowing: save the South, North, East, and West: - [232]These born from gods, a blessing great to man: - Those, unavailing gusts, o’er the waste sea - Breathe barren: with sore peril fraught to man: - In whirlpool rage fall black upon the deep: - Now here, now there, they rush with stormy gale, - Scatter the rolling barks, and whelm in death - The mariner: an evil succourless - To men, who midst the ocean-ways their blast - Encounter. They again o’er all th’ expanse - Of flowery earth the pleasant works of man - Despoil, and fill the blacken’d air with cloud - Of eddying dust and hollow rustlings drear. - Now had the blessed Powers of Heaven fulfill’d - Their toils, for meed of glory ’gainst the gods - Titanic striving in their strength: and now, - Earth-counsell’d, they exhort Olympian Jove, - Of wide beholding eyes, to regal sway - And empire o’er immortals: he to them - Due honours portion’d with an equal hand. - First as a bride the Monarch of the gods - [233]Led Metis: her o’er deities and men - Vers’d in all knowledge. But when now the time - Was full, that she should bear [234]the blue-eyed maid - Minerva, he with treacheries of smooth speech - Beguiled her thought, and hid his spouse away - In his own breast: so Earth and starry Heaven - Had counsell’d: him they both advising warn’d - Lest, in the place of Jove, another seize - The kingly honour o’er immortal gods. - For so the Fates had destined, that from her - An offspring should be born, of wisest strain. - First the Tritonian virgin azure-eyed: - Of equal might and prudence with her sire: - And then a son, king over gods and men, - Had she brought forth, invincible of soul, - But Jove in his own breast before that hour - Deposited the goddess: evermore - So warning him of evil and of good. - Next led he shining Themis: and she bare - Order, and Justice, and the blooming Peace, - The Hours by name: who perfect all the works - Of human kind: and Destinies, whom Jove - All-wise array’d with honour: Lachesis, - Clotho, and Atropos: who deal to men - The dole of good or ill. To him anon - Old Ocean’s daughter, amiablest of mien, - Eurynome, [235]brought the three Graces forth - Beauteous of cheek: Euphrosyne, Aglaia, - And Thália blithe: their eye-lids, as they gaze, - Drop love, unnerving: and beneath the shade - Of their arch’d brows they steal the sidelong glance - Of sweetness. To the couch anon he came - Of many-nurturing Ceres: Proserpine - The snowy-arm’d she bare: her gloomy Dis - Snatch’d from her mother, and all-prudent Jove - Consign’d the prize. Next loved he the fair-hair’d - Mnemosyne: from her the Muses nine - Are born: their brows with golden fillets wreath’d; - Whom feasts delight, and rapture sweet of song. - In mingled joy with ægis-wielding Jove - Latona bore [236]the arrow-shooting Dian, - And Phœbus, loveliest of the heavenly tribe. - He last the blooming Juno led as bride: - And she, embracing with the king of gods - And men, bore Mars, and [237]Hebe, and Lucina. - He from his head disclosed himself to birth - The blue-eyed maid, Tritonian [238]Pallas; fierce, - Rousing the war-field’s tumult; unsubdued; - Leader of armies; awful: whom delight - The shout of battle and the shock of war. - Without th’ embrace of love did Juno bear - [239]Illustrious Vulcan, o’er celestials graced - With arts: and strove contending with her spouse - Emulous. From the god of sounding waves, - Shaker of earth, and Amphitrite, sprang - [240]Sea-potent Triton huge: beneath the deep - He dwells in golden edifice, a god - Of awful might. Now [241]Venus gave to Mars, - Breaker of shields, a dreadful offspring: Fear, - And Consternation: they confound, in rout - Of horrid war, the phalanx dense of men, - With city-spoiler Mars. [242]Harmonia last - She bare, whom generous Cadmus clasp’d as bride. - Daughter of Atlas, Maia bore to Jove - [243]The glorious Hermes, herald of the gods; - The sacred couch ascending. [244]Semele, - Daughter of Cadmus, melting in embrace - With Jove, gave jocund Bacchus to the light: - A mortal an immortal: now alike - Immortal deities. Alcmena bare - Strong Hercules: dissolving in embrace - With the cloud-gatherer Jove. The crippled god, - In arts illustrious, Vulcan, as his bride - The gay Aglaia led, the youngest Grace. - [245]Bacchus of golden hair, his blooming spouse - Daughter of Minos, Ariadne clasp’d - With yellow tresses. Her Saturnian Jove - Immortal made, and fearless of decay. - Fair-limb’d [246]Alcmena’s valiant son, achieved - His agonizing labours, Hebe led - A bashful bride, the daughter of great Jove - And Juno golden-sandal’d, on the mount - Olympus top’d with snow. Thrice blest who thus, - A mighty task accomplish’d, midst the gods - Uninjur’d dwells, and free from withering age - For evermore. Perseis, ocean-nymph - Illustrious, to th’ unwearied Sun produced - Circe and king Æetes. By the will - Of Heaven, Æetes, boasting for his sire - The world-enlightning Sun, Idya led - Cheek-blooming, nymph of ocean’s perfect stream: - And she, to love by balmy Venus’ aid - Subdued, [247]Medea beauteous-ankled bare. - And now farewell, ye heavenly habitants! - Ye islands, and ye continents of earth! - And thou, oh main! of briny wave profound! - Oh sweet of speech, Olympian Muses! born - From ægis-wielding Jove! sing now the tribe - Of goddesses; whoe’er, by mortals clasp’d - In love, have borne a race resembling gods. - Ceres, divinest goddess, in soft joy - Blends with Iäsius brave, in the rich tract - Of Crete, whose fallow’d glebe thrice-till’d abounds; - And [248]Plutus bare, all-bountiful, who roams - Earth, and th’ expanded surface of the sea: - And him that meets him on his way, whose hands - He grasps, him gifts he with abundant gold, - And large felicity. Harmonia, born - Of lovely Venus, gave to Cadmus’ love - Ino and Semele: and fair of cheek - Agave, and Autonöe, the bride - Of Aristæus with the clustering locks; - And Polydorus, born in towery Thebes. - Aurora to Tithonus Memnon bare, - The brazen-helm’d, the Æthiopian king, - And king Emathion: and to Cephalus - Bare she a son illustrious, Phäethon, - Gallantly brave, a mortal like to gods: - Whom, while a youth, e’en in the tender flower - Of glorious prime, a boy, and vers’d alone - In what a boy may know, love’s amorous queen - Snatch’d with swift rape away: in her blest fane - Appointing him her nightly-serving priest; - The heavenly dæmon of her sanctuary. - [249]Jason Æsonides, by heaven’s high will, - Bore from Æetes, foster-son of Jove, - His daughter: those afflictive toils achieved, - Which Pelias, mighty monarch, bold in wrong, - Unrighteous, violent of deed, imposed: - And much-enduring reach’d th’ Iolchian coast, - Wafting in winged bark the jet-eyed maid, - His blooming spouse. She yielding thus in love - To Jason, shepherd of his people, bare - Medeus, whom the son of Philyra, - [250]Sage Chiron, midst the mountain-solitudes - Train’d up to man: thus were high Jove’s designs - Fulfill’d. Now Psamathe, the goddess famed, - Who sprang from ancient Nereus of the sea, - Bare Phocus; through the lovely Venus’ aid - By Æacus embraced. To Peleus’ arms - Resign’d, the silver-footed Thetis bare - Achilles lion-hearted: cleaving fierce - The ranks of men. Wreath’d Cytherea bare - Æneas: blending in ecstatic love - With brave Anchises on the verdant top - Of Ida, wood-embosom’d, many-valed. - Now [251]Circe, from the Sun Hyperion-born - Descended, with the much-enduring man - Ulysses blending love, Latinus bare, - And Agrius, brave and blameless: far they left - Their native seats in Circe’s hallow’d isles, - And o’er the wide-famed Tyrrhene tribes held sway. - Calypso, noble midst the goddess race, - Clasp’d wise Ulysses: and from rapturous love - Nausithous and Nausinous gave to day. - Lo! these were they, who yielding to embrace - Of mortal men, themselves immortal, gave - A race resembling gods. Oh now the tribe - Of gentle women sing! Olympian maids! - Ye Muses, born from ægis-bearer Jove! - - -FOOTNOTES - -[142] _They lightly leap in dance._] This representation of the Muses is -taken from the ancient custom of dancing round the altar during sacrifice. - -[143] _In springs that gush’d fresh from the courser’s hoof._] Hippos was -an Ægyptian title of the sun. This ancient term became obsolete, and was -misapplied by the Greeks, who uniformly applied it to horses. Hippocrene -was a sacred fountain denominated from the god of light, who was the -patron of verse and science. But by the Greeks it was referred to an -animal, and supposed to have been produced by the hoof of a horse. Other -nations, says Athanasius, reverenced rivers and fountains: but above all -people in the world the Ægyptians held them in the highest honour, and -esteemed them as divine. From hence the custom passed westward to Greece, -Italy, and the extremities of Europe. One reason for holding waters -so sacred arose from a notion that they were gifted with supernatural -powers. BRYANT. - -[144] _Sire of prophecy._] Phœbus is thought to be derived from Φαος -βιου, light of life: but the Greeks always associated with the name the -_prophetic_ attribute of Apollo: hence they formed from it the word -φοιβαζω, to _prophecy_: as βακχευν, to celebrate orgies or madden, is -formed from βακχος: like the _debacchor_ of the Latins. Lycophron, v. 6: - - Δαφιηφαγων φοιβαζεν εκ λαιμων οπα. - - From foaming mouth with laurel fed - She pour’d the voice of prophecy. - -[145] _And Venus twinkling bland her tremulous lids._] Ελικοβλεφαρος -is explained by Guietus _arcuatis superciliis_: so Creech, in his -translation of a chapter of Plutarch’s Morals, where the verse is quoted; - - And Venus beauteous with her bending brows. - -But the Greek for an eyebrow is οφρυς. Robinson more properly interprets -it _orbiculatis palpebris_, with semicircular eye-lids: after the old -scholiast; who conceives it a metaphor drawn from ελιξ: the bending -tendril of ivy or the vine. Le Clerc explains it _volubilibus palpebris_: -and is supported by Grævius, who quotes Petronius in illustration of the -peculiar propriety of the epithet as applied to Venus: - - Blandos oculos et inquietos, - Et quadam propriâ notâ loquaces. - - Soft and ever restless eyes, - Still talkative, with language all their own. - -Ελισσω is _circumvolvo_, to roll about. - -[146] _Ye fleshly appetites._] This degrading address seems to betray a -modern hand. If the proem be genuine, the shepherd’s occupation must have -degenerated in the time of Hesiod from its ancient honourable character. -But it is not likely that an agricultural poet should speak of husbandmen -in these debasing terms. Le Clerc’s apology, that revilings such as -these belong to the manners of primeval simplicity, does not appear very -satisfactory. The poet, whoever he was, meant the address, probably, as -an exhortation to higher pursuits. - -[147] _A laurel-bough._] Salmasius observes that they who aspired to -skill in divination, chewed the leaf of the laurel. Its poisonous -quality produced a preternatural action on the nerves, and a convulsion -and frothing at the mouth, favourable to the idea of being possessed -or inspired. As poets feigned a kind of divination, and a knowledge -of supernatural things, the laurel was equally a symbol of poesy and -prophecy: and held sacred to Phœbus, the god of verse and divination. We -find from Pausanias that those poets who did not play on the lyre held a -laurel-bough in their hand, during their public recitations, as the badge -of their profession. Hence probably the term “rhapsodist:” επι ραβδω -αδειν, “_to sing to the branch_.” and a rhapsody seems to have designated -such a portion of verses as the bard would recite at one time. Salmasius -seems therefore mistaken in deriving the word from ραπτειν τας ωδας, -_stitching together songs_: in allusion to the centos which the Homeric -rhapsodists were accustomed to recite from the works of Homer: although -the derivation appears countenanced by Pindar’s expression of ραπτων -επεων αοιδοι, _singers of tissued verses_. - -[148] _This tale of oaks._] This seems to have been a proverbial -expression to signify any idle tale or preamble. The Scholiasts -illustrate it from Odyssey xvii. 163, where Penelope asks Ulysses, whom -she does not yet recognise, “whence he is?” and observes, - - Thou comest not from some ancient oak or rock: - -in allusion to the fable of men born from trees: originating, possibly, -in children being found exposed in hollow trees and cavities of rocks. -But there is another passage in Homer more to the purpose, Il. xx. 126: - - It is no time from oak or hollow rock - With him to parley, as a nymph and swain, - A nymph and swain soft parley mutual hold. - - COWPER. - -Mr. Bryant explains this passage in Homer by the traditionary reverence -paid to caverns: which in the first ages were deemed oracular temples: -whence persons entered into compacts under rocks and oaks as places of -security. But surely there is no need to go back to the first ages, or to -dive into traditional superstitions for the solution of a circumstance so -extremely obvious, as that of two lovers conversing in the shade. Harmer -in his “Illustrations of the Classics,” vol. iii. of his “Observations -on Scripture,” renders απο δρυος, _on account of_ an oak: instead of -_from an oak_: “when people meet each other on account of some rock or -some tree which they happen upon in travelling.” But the alteration is -quite unnecessary: the word _from_ perhaps indicates that one is resting -under the tree, while the other is passing by. The adage in Hesiod is -expressed “_around_ an oak:” which implies a _number_ of persons. The -rock associated with the oak marks the peculiar climate of Greece and -the East. The shade cast by a rock is described by Eastern travellers as -singularly cool. - -[149] _Pieria’s groves._] The Pierians were celebrated for their skill in -music and poetry. Hence Pieria came to be regarded as the birth place of -the Muses. BRYANT. - -[150] _Bare the nine maids._] The origin of verse itself, which is to -be sought in the necessity of some mechanical help for the memory at an -æra when letters were not invented, and every thing depended on oral -tradition, obviously accounts for the fiction of memory being the mother -of the Muses. But there is a farther reason. The ancient temples were the -depositaries of all traditionary knowledge. We are told by Homer that -the voice of the Syrens was enchanting, but their knowledge of the past -equally so. The Syrens appear to have been merely priestesses of one of -this description of temples, which stood in Sicily, and was erected on -the sea-shore, answering also the purpose of a lighthouse. The rites -of the temple consisted partly of hymns chanted by young and beautiful -women to the sound of harps and flutes: and it was their office to -entangle by their allurements such strangers as touched upon the coast: -who were instantly seized by the priests and sacrificed to the solar -god. The Syrens are described as the daughters of Calliope, Melpomene, -and Terpsichore; three of the Muses: they were in fact the same with the -Muses. These temples were sacred colleges: sciences were taught there: in -particular music and astronomy. The transition was easy from the young -priestesses of these temples, to blooming goddesses who presided over -history, poetry, &c. See the “Analysis of Ancient Mythology.” - -[151] _Soothing eloquence._] This passage is exactly similar to one in -the Odyssey, b. viii.: - - Jove - Crowns him with eloquence: his hearers charm’d - Behold him, while with unassuming tone - He bears the prize of fluent speech from all; - And when he walks the city, as they pass, - All turn and gaze, as they had pass’d a god. - - COWPER. - -[152] _The great assembly._] The ancient Grecian princes, as Dionysius -of Halicarnassus remarks, were not absolute like the Asiatic monarchs: -their power being limited by laws and established customs:” and this is -perfectly consonant to the higher authority of Homer. The poet himself -appears a warm friend to monarchical rule, and takes every opportunity -zealously to inculcate loyalty. “The government of many is bad: let -there be one chief, one king.” It is, however, sufficiently evident -that the poet means here to speak of executive government only: “Let -there be one chief, one king,” he says: but he adds, “to whom Jupiter -has intrusted the sceptre and the laws, _that by them he may govern_.” -Accordingly in every Grecian government which he has occasion to enlarge -upon, he plainly discovers to us strong principles of republican rule. -Not only the council of principal men, but the assembly of the people -also is familiar to him. The name _agora_ signifying a place of meeting, -and the verb formed from it to express haranguing in assemblies of the -people, were already in common use; and to be a good public speaker -was esteemed among the highest qualifications a man could possess. In -the government of Phæacia, as described in the Odyssey, the mixture of -monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy is not less clearly marked than in -the British constitution. One chief, twelve peers (all honoured, like -the chief, with the title which we translate _king_), and the assembly -of the people, shared the supreme authority. The universal and undoubted -prerogatives of kings were religious supremacy and military command. -They often also exercised judicial power. But in all civil concerns -their authority appears very limited. Every thing, indeed, that remains -concerning government in the oldest Grecian poets and historians, tends -to demonstrate that the general spirit of it among the early Greeks was -nearly the same as among our Teutonic ancestors. The ordinary business -of the community was directed by the chiefs. Concerning extraordinary -matters and more essential interests, the multitude claimed a right to be -consulted. MITFORD, History of Greece, i. 3. - -[153] _Harpers and men of song._] Singer was a common name among the -Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and other ancient people, for poet and musician; -employments which were then inseparable: as no poetry was written but -to be sung; and little or no music composed, but as an accompaniment to -poetry. BURNEY, History of Music, 312. - -[154] - - _Is there one_ - _Who hides some fresh grief._] - -This whole passage is found among the fragments attributed to Homer. -This sentiment of the power of poesy and the subjects chosen by the bard -is entirely in the spirit of antiquity, when mythology and heroism were -the favourite themes. Achilles is described by Homer as diverting the -uneasiness of his mind by warlike odes which he accompanied on the lyre, -Il. ix. 189: - - Arriving soon - Among the Myrmidons, their chief they found - Soothing his sorrows with the silver-framed - Harmonious lyre, spoil taken when he took - Æetion’s city: with that lyre his cares - He soothed, and glorious heroes were his theme. - - COWPER. - -[155] _The servant of the Muse._] Laws were always promulgated in verse, -and often publicly sung; a practice which remained in many places long -after letters were become common: morality was taught: history was -delivered in verse. Lawgivers, philosophers, historians, all who would -apply their experience or their genius to the instruction and amusement -of others, were necessarily poets. The character of poet was therefore -a character of dignity: an opinion even of sacredness became attached -to it: a poetical genius was esteemed an effect of divine inspiration -and a mark of divine favour: and the poet, who moreover carried with -him instruction and entertainment, not to be obtained without him, was -a privileged person, enjoying by a kind of prescription the rights of -universal hospitality. MITFORD. - -Yet in the vulgar tradition, Homer is represented as a mere -ballad-singing mendicant! and whoever attempts to refute, by the light of -historic evidence and of reason, this or similar absurdities of modern -ignorance, when sanctioned by popular prejudice, must expect to be set -down as a dealer in paradoxes. - -[156] _First of all beings Chaos was._] The ancients were in general -materialists, and thought the world eternal. But the mundane system, or -at least the history of the world, they supposed to commence from the -deluge. The confusion which prevailed at the deluge is often represented -as the chaotic state of nature: for the earth was hid, and the heavens -obscured, and all the elements in disorder. BRYANT. - -[157] _Or in the dark abysses of the ground._] Tartarus is considered by -Brucker in his epitome of the Theogony (Historia Critica Philosophiæ, -tom. 1.) as the third birth. Tartarus is, indeed, after introduced as a -person, but in the singular number: the word is here used in the plural, -and I conceive it to mean simply the cavities of the earth, and to be -connected with the preceding sentence. - -[158] _The Cyclops brethren._] Thucydides acquaints us concerning the -Cyclopes, that they were the most ancient inhabitants of Sicily, but -that he could not find out their race. Strabo places them near Ætna and -Icontina, and supposes that they once ruled over that part of the island; -and it is certain that a people called Cyclopians did possess that -province. It is generally agreed by writers upon the subject, that they -were of a size superior to the common race of mankind. Among the many -tribes of the Amonians who went abroad, were to be found people who were -styled Anakim; and were descended from the sons of Anak: so that this -history, though carried to a great excess, was probably founded in truth. -They were particularly famous for architecture; and in all parts whither -they came, they erected noble structures, which were remarkable for their -height and beauty: and were often dedicated to the chief deity, the sun, -under the name of Elorus and P’Elorus. People were so struck with their -grandeur, that they called every thing great or stupendous Pelorian -(πελωρος, huge): and when they described the Cyclopians as a lofty -towering race, they came at last to borrow their ideas of this people -from the towers to which they alluded. They supposed them in height to -reach the clouds, and in bulk equal to the promontories on which these -edifices were founded. As these buildings were often-times light-houses, -and had in their upper story one round casement, “like an Argolick -buckler or the moon,” by which they afforded light in the night-season, -the Greeks made this a characteristic of the people. They supposed this -aperture to have been an eye, which was fiery and glaring, and placed -in the middle of their foreheads. What confirmed the mistake was the -representation of an eye, which was often engraved over the entrance of -these temples: the chief deity of Ægypt being elegantly represented by -the symbol of an eye, which was intended to signify the superintendency -of Providence. The notion of the Cyclopes framing the thunder and -lightning for Jupiter, arose chiefly from the Cyclopians engraving -hieroglyphics of this sort upon the temples of the deity. The poets -considered them merely in the capacity of blacksmiths, and condemned them -to the anvil. BRYANT. - -The proximity of Ætna doubtless had its share in this delusion, Virg. Æn. -viii. 417: - - Deep below - In hollow caves the fires of Ætna glow. - The Cyclops here their heavy hammers deal: - Loud strokes and hissings of tormented steel - Are heard around: the boiling waters roar, - And smoky flames through fuming tunnels soar. - Hither the father of the fire by night, - Through the brown air precipitates his flight: - On their eternal anvils here he found - The brethren beating, and the blows go round. - - DRYDEN. - -[159] _He took the sickle._] In a fragment of Sanchoniatho, the Phœnician -philosopher, translated by Philo the Jew, is recorded this very history -of Uranus and Cronus, or Saturn. De Gebelin, in his “Monde Primitif,” -resolves it, according to his system, into the invention of reaping, -which he supposes Saturn to personify. But Saturn is often represented -with a ship, as well as a sickle; which has no reference to agriculture. -The explanation may, however, be correct, if we consider Saturn not as -a mere figurative prosopopœia of reaping, but as the real person who -restored the labours of harvest; in the same manner as his Greek name -Cronus, which some have thought to intimate a personification of Time, -points out very significantly the person who began the new æra of time: -the great father of the post-diluvian world. The type of the ship on -the ancient coins of Saturn is an apposite emblem of the ark: and the -concealment of the children of Heaven in a cavern seems an obscure -remnant of the same tradition. - -[160] _The foam-born goddess._] The name of the Dove among the ancient -Amonians was Iön and Iönah. This term is often found compounded, and -expressed Ad-Iönah, queen dove: from which title another deity, Adiona, -was constituted. This mode of idolatry must have been very ancient, as -it is mentioned in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and is one species of -false worship, which Moses forbade by name. According to our method of -rendering the Hebrew term it is called Idione. This Idione or Adione -was the Dione of the Greeks: the deity who was sometimes looked upon as -the mother of Venus: at other times as Venus herself: and styled Venus -Dionæa. Venus was no other than the ancient Iönah: and we shall find in -her history numberless circumstances relating to the Noachic dove, and -to the deluge. We are told, when the waters covered the earth, that the -dove came back to Noah, having roamed over a vast uninterrupted ocean, -and found no rest for the sole of her foot. But upon being sent forth a -second time by the patriarch, in order to form a judgment of the state -of the earth, she returned to the ark in the evening, and “Lo! in her -mouth was an olive leaf plucked off.” From hence Noah conceived his first -hopes of the waters being assuaged, and the elements reduced to order. -He likewise began to foresee the change that was to happen in the earth: -that seed-time and harvest would be renewed, and the ground restored to -its pristine fecundity. In the hieroglyphical sculptures and paintings -where this history was represented, the dove was depicted hovering over -the face of the deep. Hence it is that Dione, or Venus, is said to have -risen from the sea. Hence it is, also, that she is said to preside over -waters, to appease the troubled ocean, and to cause by her presence a -universal calm: that to her were owing the fruits of the earth, and -the flowers of the field were renewed by her influence. The address of -Lucretius to this goddess is founded on traditions, which manifestly -allude to the history above mentioned. BRYANT. - -[161] _Love track’d her steps._] What the Greeks called Iris, was -expressed Eiras by the Ægyptians. The Greeks out of Eiras formed Eros, -a god of love, whom they annexed to Venus, and made her son: and -finding that the bow was his symbol, instead of the iris they gave him -a material bow, with the addition of a quiver and arrows. The bows of -Apollo and Diana were formed from the same original. After the descent -from the ark the first wonderful occurrence was the bow in the clouds, -and the covenant of which it was made an emblem. At this season another -æra began. The earth was supposed to be renewed, and Time to return to -a second infancy. They therefore formed an emblem of a child with the -rainbow, to denote this renovation in the world, and called him Eros, -or Divine Love. But however like a child he might be expressed, the -more early mythologists esteemed him the most ancient of the gods; and -Lucian, with great humour, makes Jupiter very much puzzled to account -for the appearance of this infant deity. “Why thou urchin,” says the -father of the gods, “how came you with that little childish face, when I -know you to be as old as Iapetus?” The Greek and Roman poets reduced the -character of this deity to that of a wanton, mischievous pigmy: but he -was otherwise esteemed of old. He is styled by Plato a mighty god; and -it is said that Eros was the cause of the greatest blessings to mankind. -BRYANT. - -[162] _Virgin whisperings._] These attributes of Venus suggest a -comparison with the properties of her cestus as described by Homer: - - It was an ambush of sweet snares: replete - With love, desire, soft intercourse of hearts, - And music of resistless whisper’d sounds, - Which from the wisest steal their best resolves. - - COWPER. - -[163] _Then bare she Momus._] Hesiod has truly painted the nature -of detraction (Momus) in describing it as born from Night. The same -origin is given to Care: because all anxieties are increased in the -night-season: whence Night is styled by Ovid, “the mighty nurse of -Cares.” LE CLERC. - -[164] _Th’ Hesperian maids._] The ancient temples in which the sun was -adored often stood within enclosures of large extent. Some of them were -beautifully planted, and ornamented with pavilions and fountains. Places -of this nature are alluded to under the description of the gardens of -the Hesperides and Alcinous. They were also regal edifices: and termed -Tor-chom and Tar-chon; which signified a regal tower, and was of old -a high place or temple of Cham. By a corruption it was in later times -rendered Trachon. The term was still further sophisticated by the -Greeks, and expressed Drachon. The situation of these buildings on a -high eminence, and the reverence in which they were held, made them be -looked upon as places of great security. On these accounts they were -the repositories of much treasure. When the Greeks understood that in -these temples the people worshipped a serpent-deity, they concluded that -Trachon was a serpent: hence the name Draco came to be appropriated to -that imaginary animal. Hence also arose the notion of treasures being -guarded by dragons, and of the gardens of the Hesperides being under the -protection of a serpent. BRYANT. - -Perhaps also in these gardens was kept up the ancient Paradisiacal -tradition: as the golden apples and the dragon present an analogy with -the hieroglyphic account given by Moses of the forbidden fruit and the -serpent. This is the more probable, as it is evident this tradition -had mixed itself in the dispersed legends of pagan mythology from the -remarkable coincidence of the “serpent-woman,” considered by the Mexicans -as the mother of the human race, and ranked next to “the god of the -celestial paradise.” The Mexican temples, also, where “the great spirit,” -or sun personified, was worshipped, are described by Humboldt in his -“American Researches,” as raised in the midst of a square and walled -enclosure, which contained gardens and fountains. This mixed worship of -the Paradisiacal serpent may account for a serpent, twisted into the form -of a fillet, being made an emblem of the sun’s disk: and for snaky hair -being typical of divine wisdom: while the tresses were, at the same time, -so disposed as to figure the sun’s rays, and the human visage represented -his orb. - -The Hesperian virgins seem the same with the Muses and Syrens, the -priestesses of the temple: and their singing sweetly on their watch, as -described afterwards by Hesiod, alludes to the hymns which they chanted -at the altar. They are made the daughters of Night, because the gardens -were in Afric: which, equally with Italy and Spain, was denominated -_Hesperia_ by the Greeks: and the region of the west was considered as -synonymous with Night. - -[165] _Eldest of all his race._] The history of the patriarch was -recorded by the ancients through their whole theology. All the principal -deities of the sea, however diversified, have a manifest relation to him. -Noah was figured under the history of Nereus: and his character of an -unerring prophet, as well as of a just, righteous, and benevolent man, is -plainly described by Hesiod. BRYANT. - -[166] _Then rose Thaumas vast._] That beautiful phenomenon in the -heavens, which we call the rainbow, was by the Ægyptians styled Thamuz, -and signified “the wonder.” The Greeks expressed it Thaumas: and hence -was derived θαυμαζω, to wonder. This Thaumas they did not immediately -appropriate to the bow: but supposed them to be two personages, and -Thaumas the parent. BRYANT. - -[167] _Phorcys the mighty._] Homer calls him “the old man of the sea:” -and gives precisely the same appellation to Proteus. The character of the -latter varies only from that of Nereus in the quality of transforming -himself into sundry shapes. This may have a reference to the great -diluvian changes, varying the face of nature. The connexion of Phorcys -and Ceto favours the supposition that these three deities are one and the -same personage. - -“The ark in which mankind were preserved was figured under the semblance -of a large fish. It was called Cetos.” BRYANT. - -_Cetos_ is the Greek term for a whale. - -[168] _Rose-arm’d Eunice._] ροδοπῃχυς, _rosy-elbow’d_: this epithet, -together with that of ροδοδακτυλος, _rosy-fingered_, was derived from -the artificial custom of staining the elbow and tops of the fingers with -rose-colour. In Dallaway’s Constantinople it is remarked of the modern -Greek girls “that the nails both of the fingers and the feet are always -stained of a rose-colour:” a curious vestige of Grecian antiquity. - -[169] _Nereid nymphs._] Spenser, in his “Spousals of the Thames and -Medway,” b. 4. cant. ii. of the “Faery Queen,” has imposed on himself -a task, from which a translator would fain escape: and has transposed -into his stanzas the whole fifty Nereids of Hesiod, together with his -catalogue of Rivers. - -[170] _The sister-harpies._] The harpies were priests of the sun: they -were denominated from their seat of residence, which was an oracular -temple called Harpi. The representation of them as winged animals was -only the insigne of the people, as the eagle and vulture were of the -Ægyptians. They seem to have been a set of rapacious persons, who for -their repeated acts of violence and cruelty were driven out of Bithynia, -their country. BRYANT. - -[171] _The Graiæ; from their birth-hour gray._] The circumstance of their -being gray seems to be explained by a passage of Æschylus, who describes -them as half-women, half-swans: - - The Gorgonian plains - Of Cisthine, where dwell the Phorcydes - Swan-form’d, three ancient nymphs, one common eye - Their portion. - - _Prometheus Chained._ - -“This history relates to an Amonian temple founded in the extreme parts -of Africa, in which there were three priestesses of Canaänitish race, who -on that account are said to be in the shape of swans: the swan being the -insigne under which their country was denoted. The notion of their having -but one eye among them took its rise from a hieroglyphic very common -in Ægypt and Canaän: this was the representation of an eye, which was -engraved on the pediment of their temples.” BRYANT. - -The Gorgons were probably similar personages: they are described by -Æschylus with wings and serpentine locks: attributes apparently borrowed -from the emblematical devices in the temples of Ægypt. Gorgon was a title -of Minerva at Cyrene in Lybia. - -[172] - - _When Perseus smote_ - _Her neck._] - -The island of Seriphus is represented as having once abounded with -serpents; and it is styled by Virgil in his Ciris _serpentifera_: it had -this epithet, not on account of any real serpents, but according to the -Greeks, from Medusa’s head, which was brought thither by Perseus. By this -is meant the serpent-deity, whose worship was here introduced by a people -called Peresians. It was usual with the Ægyptians to describe upon the -architrave of their temples some emblem of the deity who there presided: -among others the serpent was esteemed a most salutary emblem, and they -made use of it to signify superior skill and knowledge. A beautiful -female countenance surrounded with an assemblage of serpents was made -to denote divine wisdom. Many ancient temples were ornamented with this -curious hieroglyphic. These devices upon temples were often esteemed as -talismans, and supposed to have a hidden influence by which the building -was preserved. In the temple of Minerva, at Tigea, was some sculpture of -Medusa, which the goddess was said to have given to preserve the city -from ever being taken in war. It was probably from this opinion that -the Athenians had the head of Medusa represented on the walls of their -Acropolis; and it was the insigne of many cities, as we find from ancient -coins. Perseus was one of the most ancient heroes in the mythology of -Greece: the merit of whose supposed achievements the Helladians took to -themselves, and gave out that he was a native of Argos. Herodotus more -truly represents him as an Assyrian; by which is meant a Babylonian. Yet -he resided in Ægypt, and is said to have reigned at Memphis. To say the -truth, he was _worshipped_ at that place: for Perseus was a title of the -deity, and was no other than the Sun, the chief god of the gentile world. -His true name was Perez; rendered Peresis, Perses, and Perseus: and in -the account given of this personage we have the history of the Peresians -in their several peregrinations; who were no other than the Heliadæ and -Osirians. It is a mixed history in which their forefathers are alluded -to: particularly their great progenitor, the father of mankind. He was -supposed to have had a renewal of life: they therefore described Perseus -as enclosed in an ark and exposed in a state of childhood on the waters, -after having been conceived in a shower of gold. BRYANT. - -[173] _The great Chrysaor._] Chus by the Ægyptians and Canaanites was -styled Or-chus, and Chus-or: the latter of which was expressed by the -Greeks by a word more familiar to their ear Chrusor; as if it had a -reference to gold. This name was sometimes changed into Chrusaor: and -occurs in many places where the Cuthites were known to have settled. They -were a long time in Ægypt: and we read of a Chrusaor in those parts, who -is said to have sprung from the blood of Medusa. We meet with the same -Chrusaor in the regions of Asia Minor, especially among the Carians: in -those parts he was particularly worshipped, and said to have been the -first deified mortal. The Grecians borrowed this term, and applied it -to Apollo: and from this epithet, Chrusaor, he was denominated the god -of the golden sword. This weapon was at no time ascribed to him, nor is -he ever represented with one either on a gem or marble. He is described -by Homer in the hymn to Apollo, as wishing for a harp and a bow. There -is never any mention made of a sword, nor was the term Chrusaor of -Grecian etymology. Since, then, we may be assured that Chus was the -person alluded to, we need not wonder that so many cities, where Apollo -was particularly worshipped, should be called Chruse, and Chrusopolis. -Nor is this observable in cities only, but in rivers. It was usual in -the first ages to consecrate rivers to deities, and to call them after -their names. Hence many were denominated from Chrusorus: which by the -Greeks was changed to χρυσορροας, _flowing with gold_: and from this -mistake, the Nile was called _Chrusorrhoas_, which had no pretensions to -gold. In all the places where the sons of Chus spread themselves, the -Greeks introduced some legend about gold. Hence we read of a _golden_ -fleece at Colchis: _golden_ apples at the Hesperides: at Tartessus a -_golden_ cup: and at Cuma in Campania a _golden_ branch. But although -this repeated mistake arose in great measure from the term Chusus being -easily convertible into Chrusus, there was another obvious reason for -the change. Chus was by many of the Eastern nations expressed Cuth; and -his posterity, the Cuthim. This term, in the ancient Chaldaic and other -Amonian languages, signified _gold_: and hence many cities and countries -where the Cuthites settled were described as golden. BRYANT. - -[174] _And Pegasus the steed._] Pegasus received its name from a -well-known emblem, the horse of Poseidon: by which we are to understand -an ark or ship. “By horses,” says Artemidorus, “the poets mean ships:” -and hence it is that Poseidon is called Hippius; for there is a strict -analogy between the poetical or winged horse on land, and a real ship in -the sea. Hence it came that Pegasus was esteemed the horse of Poseidon -(Neptune), and often named _scuphius_; a name which relates to a ship, -and shows the purport of the emblem. The ark, we know, was preserved by -divine providence from the sea, which would have overwhelmed it: and as -it was often represented under this symbol of a horse, it gave rise to -the fable of the two chief deities, Jupiter and Neptune, disputing about -horses. BRYANT. - -To this we may add the still more remarkable fable of the dispute between -Neptune and Pallas: when the former produces a horse, and the latter -an olive-tree. “These notions,” observes the author of the Analysis, -“arose from emblematical descriptions of the deluge, which the Grecians -had received by tradition: but what was general they limited, and -appropriated to particular places.” - -[175] _Old Nilus’ fountains._] Ωκεανου περι πηγας. Le Clerc remarks that -“this derivation is absurd: as we do not talk of the fountains of the -sea, but of rivers.” He adds, however, that “Hesiod more than once calls -the ocean the river:” and this should have led him to perceive that it is -in fact a river of which Hesiod speaks. The oceanic river was the Nile, -which in very ancient times was called the Oceanus. - -[176] _Geryon rose._] One of the principal and most ancient settlements -of the Amonians upon the ocean was at Gades; where a prince was supposed -to have reigned, named Geryon. The harbour at Gades was a very fine one, -and had several tor, or towers, to direct shipping: and as it was usual -to imagine the deity to whom the temple was erected to have been the -builder, this temple was said to have been built by Hercules. All this -the Grecians took to themselves. They attributed the whole to Hercules -of Thebes: and as he was supposed to conquer wherever he came, they made -him subdue Geryon: and changing the tor or towers into so many head of -cattle, they describe him as leading them off in triumph. Tor-keren -signified a regal tower; and this being interpreted τρικαρηνος, this -personage was in consequence described with three heads. BRYANT. - -Erythia, according to Pliny, is another name for Gades. - -[177] _In the deep-hollow’d cavern of a rock._] It is probable that at -Arima in Cilicia there was an Ophite temple; which, like all the most -ancient temples, was a vast cavern. Some emblematical sculpture of the -serpent-deity may have given rise to the creation of this mythological -prodigy. The Hydra had, probably, a similar origin. - -[178] _A whirlwind, rude and wild._] There were two distinct Typhons or -Typhaons, although they are sometimes confounded together. The one is the -same as the gigantic Typhæus, subsequently described by Hesiod: the other -the whirlwind here mentioned. - -“By this Typhon was signified a mighty whirlwind, or inundation. It had -a relation to the deluge. In hieroglyphical descriptions, the dove was -represented as hovering over the mundane egg which was exposed to the -fury of Typhon: for an egg, containing in it the proper elements of life, -was thought no improper emblem of the ark, in which were preserved the -rudiments of the future world.” BRYANT. - -Robinson is therefore manifestly wrong in proposing to substitute ανομον, -_lawless_, for ανεμον, _a wind_: though the reading be countenanced by -the Bodleian copy and the Florentine edition of Junta. - -[179] _The fifty-headed Cerberus._] Cerberus was the name of a place, -though esteemed the dog of hell. We are told by Eusebius from Plutarch, -that Cerberus was the Sun: but the term properly signified the temple, -or place, of the Sun. The great luminary was styled by the Amonians both -Or and Abor; that is, light, and the parent of light: and Cerberus is -properly Kir-abor, the place of that deity. The same temple had different -names from the diversity of the god’s titles, who was there worshipped. -It was called Tor-caph-el; which was changed to τρικεφαλος: and Cerberus -was from hence supposed to have had three heads. BRYANT. - -The poets increased the number of heads, as they seem to have thought a -multitude of heads or arras sublimely terrific. Pindar out-does Hesiod -by a whole fifty, and speaks of the _hundred-headed_ Cerberus. Εκατον τα -κεφαλον. - -[180] _Chimæra, breathing fire unquenchable._] The same passage occurs -in the 6th book of the Iliad. “In Lycia was the city Phaselis, situated -upon the mountain Chimæra; which mountain was sacred to the god of fire. -Phaselis is a compound of Phi, which in the Amonian language is a mouth -or opening, and of Az-el: another name for Orus, the god of light. -Phaselis signifies a chasm of fire. The reason why this name was imposed -may be seen in the history of the place. All the country around abounded -in fiery eruptions. Chimæra is a compound of Chamur, the name of the -deity, whose altar stood towards the top of the mountain. But the most -satisfactory idea of it may be obtained from coins which were struck -in its vicinity, and particularly describe it as a hollow and inflamed -mountain.” BRYANT. - -[181] _Depopulating Sphinx._] The Nile begins to rise during the fall of -the Abyssinian rains; when the sun is vertical over Æthiopia: and its -waters are at their height of inundation when the sun is in the signs Leo -and Virgo. The Ægyptians seem to have invented a colossal representation -of the two zodiacal signs, which served as a water-mark to point out -the risings of the Nile: and this biform emblem of a virgin and lion -constituted the famous ænigma. - -[182] _Tethys to Ocean brought the rivers forth._] When towers were -situated upon eminences fashioned very round, they were by the Amonians -called Tith, answering to Titthos in Greek. They were so denominated -from their resemblance to a woman’s breast, and were particularly sacred -to Orus and Osiris, the deities of light, who by the Grecians were -represented under the title of Apollo. Tethys, the ancient goddess of -the sea, was nothing else but an old tower upon a mount. On this account -it was called Tith-is, the mount of fire. Thetis seems to have been a -transposition of the same name, and was probably a Pharos, or fire-tower, -near the sea. BRYANT. - -[183] _Claim the shorn locks._] It was the custom of the Greeks for adult -youths to poll their hair as an offering to Apollo and the Rivers. - -[184] _And Ploto, with the bright dilated eyes._] Βοωπις, ox-eyed: that -is, with eyes artificially enlarged. Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 6, speaks -of the _stibium_ or antimony as an astringent, especially as to the -eye-lid: and mentions that it was called _platyophthalmum_, eye-opener: -from its forming an ingredient in the washes of women, as it had the -effect of opening or dilating the eye by contracting the lid. The modern -Greek women retain the custom. “Of the few that I have seen with an open -veil or without one, the faces were remarkable for symmetry and brilliant -complexion: with the nose straight and small: the eyes vivacious: either -black or dark-blue: having the eyebrows, partly from nature, and as much -from art, very full, and joining over the nose. They have a custom, -too, of drawing a black line with a mixture of powder of antimony and -oil above and under the eye-lashes in order to give the eye more fire.” -DALLAWAY, Constantinople Ancient and Modern. - -Strutt, in the general introduction to his “View of the Dress and Habits -of the People of England,” observes that the Moorish ladies in Barbary, -the women in Arabia Felix, and those about Aleppo continue the same -traditional custom of tinging the inside of the eye-lid. Dr. Russel -describes the operation as effected “by means of a short smooth probe of -ivory, wood, or silver; charged with a powder named the black Kohol. This -substance is a kind of lead-ore brought from Persia: and is prepared by -roasting it in a quince, an apple, or a truffle; then, adding a few drops -of oil of almonds, it is ground to a subtile powder on a marble. The -probe being first dipped in water, a little of the powder is sprinkled -on it. The middle part is then applied horizontally to the eye, and the -eye-lids being shut upon it, the probe is drawn through between them, -leaving the inside tinged, and a black rim all round the edge. The Kohol -is used likewise by the men: but not so generally by way of ornament -merely: the practice being deemed rather effeminate. It is supposed to -strengthen the sight and prevent various disorders of the eye.” NATURAL -HISTORY OF ALEPPO, vol. i. iii. 22. - -Mr. Gifford, in the notes to his admirable version of Juvenal, supposes -the effeminate practice of the Roman fops to assimilate with this: in the -passage which he translates, - - Some with a tiring-pin their eye-brows dye, - Till the full arch gives lustre to the eye. - - SAT. ii. 67. - -Juvenal, however, mentions only the painting of the eye-brows: unless by -the epithet _tremulous_, _trementes_, which he applies to the eyes, he -means to intimate the whole operation, and the eye-ball quivering under -the application of the needle. - -In the second book of Kings, ix. 30, when it is said “Jezebel painted her -face,” the Septuagint has it, “she antimonized her eyes:” Εστιμμιζατο -τους οφθαλμους αυτης. - -[185] _Long-stepping tread the earth._] The Greeks, as appears from their -female epithets, were very attentive to the form of the ankle, and the -manner of walking: and a long step, no less than a well-turned ankle, as -implying a tallness of figure, was thought characteristic of graceful -beauty. - -[186] _The glassy depth of lakes._] All fountains were esteemed sacred: -but especially those which had any preternatural quality and abounded -with exhalations. It was an universal notion that a divine energy -proceeded from the effluvia; and that the persons who resided in their -vicinity were gifted with a prophetic quality. Fountains of this nature, -from the divine influence with which they were supposed to abound, the -Amonians styled Ain-omphe, or oracular fountain. These terms the Greeks -contracted to _numphe_, a nymph: and supposed such a person to be an -inferior goddess who presided over waters. Hot springs were imagined to -be more immediately under the inspection of the nymphs. Another name for -these places was Ain-Ades, the fountain of Ades or the Sun; which in like -manner was changed to Naïades, a species of deities of the same class. -BRYANT. - -[187] _East, West, and South, and North._] Le Clerc and the generality -of editors suppose Hesiod to omit the east-wind entirely: and consider -αργεστεω as an epithet, signifying _swift_ or _serene_: as the term -is so used by Homer. Grævius quotes a subsequent line of the Theogony -as authority for αργεστης being so used by Hesiod also: but there is -evidence for αργεστης being the name of a wind; though Aulus Gellius -and Pliny suppose it to be a west-wind, called by the Latins Caurus. -Aristotle also, as is observed by the Monthly Reviewer, describes the -αργεστης as a westerly wind, which blows from that part of the heaven -in which the sun sets at the summer solstice: and adds that by some -it is called Olympias, by others Iapyx. We see however from this very -passage of Aristotle, that the names of winds were capricious and -arbitrary: and in fact almost every district in Greece called the winds -by names different from those which the neighbouring district used. The -same critic observes that in a note to the word σκειροιν (Caurus), in -Alberti’s edition of Hesychius, an opinion is intimated that αργεστης is -properly an easterly wind, απηλιωτης ανεμος: nor can there be the least -doubt of the matter, in so far as regards Hesiod. The London Reviewer, -indeed, remarks that “the omission of the wind would be no proof of -Hesiod’s ignorance of its existence”: a similar omission occurs in the -Psalms. “Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor the west, nor yet -from the south.” But it is forgotten that Hesiod is describing the -genealogy of the winds: and it is very inconceivable that one of the four -cardinal winds should have escaped his notice. The editions of Stephens -and Trincavellus read - - Νοσφι Νοτου, Βορεω τε, και Αργεστου, Ζεφυρου τε: - -instead of αργεστεω Ζεφιροιο: and I have no doubt that this is the true -reading. - -[188] - - _Not apart from Jove_ - _Their mansion is._] - -So Callimachus, Hymn to Jupiter: - - No lots have made thee king above all gods: - But works of thy own hands: thy Strength and Force, - Whom thou hast, therefore, station’d next thy throne. - -Strength and Force are introduced by Æschylus as characters, in the first -scene of his “Prometheus Chained.” - -[189] _Asteria, blest in fame._] According to Callimachus Asteria was -metamorphosed into the Isle of Delos: a term which alludes to its -appearing after having been submerged in the sea: δηλος, _visible_. -Asteria is from αστηρ a star. - - Asteria was thy name - Of old: since like a star from heaven on high - Thou didst leap down precipitate within - A fathomless abyss of waters, flying - From nuptial violence of Jove. - - HYMN TO DELOS. - -[190] - - _She conceived_ - _With Hecaté._] - -Εκατη was a title of Diana, as εκατος of Apollo: from εκας _far off_: -alluding to the distance to which the sun and moon dart their rays. This -goddess is represented in ancient sculptures as three females joined -in one, with various attributes in their hands: this triple figure was -combined of the three characters sustained by the moon: who was Selene -or Luna in heaven, Diana on earth, and Proserpine in the subterranean -regions. Luna is said by Cicero to be the same as Lucina, the goddess -of child-bearing: a title given also to Diana and Juno. Hecate has also -assigned to her by Hesiod the office of foster-mother of children. This -may be explained partly by the reckoning of pregnant women being guided -by the number of lunar periods; and partly by the emblematic character of -the moon, as an object of worship. - -“The moon was a type of the ark: the sacred ship of Osiris being -represented in the form of a crescent, of which the moon was made -an emblem. Selene was the reputed mother of the world, as Plutarch -confesses: which character cannot be made in any degree to correspond -with the planet. Selene was the same as Isis: the same also as Rhea, -Vesta, Cubele, and Damater, or Ceres.” BRYANT. - -These female deities not only melt into each other, but at last resolve -themselves into the one Zeus: so that the lunar idolatry is absorbed -ultimately in the solar. “The patriarch had the names of Meen or Menes; -which signify a moon, and was worshipped all over the east as Deus Lunus. -Strabo mentions several temples of this lunar god in different places: -all these were dedicated to the same Arkite deity, called Lunus, Luna, -and Selene. The same deity was both masculine and feminine: what was Deus -Lunus in one country was Dea Luna in another. Meen was also one of the -most ancient titles of the Ægyptian Osiris; the same as Apollo.” BRYANT. - -The sacred bull Apis is figured in the ancient coins and sculptures, -with a crescent moon upon his head instead of horns: by which the great -restorer of husbandry, Noah, was connected with the ark in which he had -been miraculously preserved; and of which the lunar crescent was an -emblem. - -[191] _Her wide allotment stands._] The other gods were either celestial, -terrestrial, marine, or subterranean: but the divinity of Hecate pervaded -heaven, earth, and the abyss, from her being intermixed with Luna, Dian, -and Proserpine: and the sea, from the moon influencing the tides. She -was invoked at sacrifices, probably, as presiding over divination from -the entrails of beasts: because she was the patroness of magical rites -and incantations: from such ceremonies being performed in the secrecy -of night by the light of the moon. The Greeks, on every new moon, were -accustomed to spread a feast in the cross-ways, which was carried away by -the poor: this was called “Hecate’s supper;” and was said to have been -eaten by Hecaté. See Aristophanes, Plutus. - -[192] _Her solitary birth._] This alludes to the honour and the -privileges attached by the ancients to numerous children. The moon is -said to be single in birth, as the only planet of the same apparent size -and lustre. - -[193] _A gleam of glory o’er his parents’ days._] The odes of Pindar are -traditional records of the glory attached by the Greeks to the conquerors -in their games: a glory which extended to their parents and connexions, -and even to the city in which they were born. Cicero describes the return -from an Olympic victory as equivalent to a Roman triumph. The victor in -fact rode in a triumphal chariot, and entered through a breach in the -walls into the city: which Plutarch explains to signify that walls are -useless with such defenders. The same writer relates, that a Spartan -meeting Diagoras, who had been crowned in the Olympic games, and had seen -his sons and grand-children crowned after him, exclaimed, “Die Diagoras! -for thou canst not be a god.” A memorial on the gymnastic exercises of -the Greeks will be found in the “Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions -et Belles Lettres,” tom. i. 286. - -[194] _Golden-sandal’d Juno._] Juno was the same as Iöna: and she -was particularly styled Juno of Argus. Argus was one of the terms by -which the ark was distinguished. The Grecians called her Hera; which -was not originally a proper name, but a title: the same as Ada of the -Babylonians; and expressed “the Lady” or “Queen.” She was the same as -Luna or Selene, from her connexion with the ark; and at Samos she was -described as standing in a lunette, with the lunar emblem on her head. -She was sometimes worshipped under the symbol of an egg: so that her -history had the same reference as that of Venus. She presided equally -over the seas, which she was supposed to calm or trouble. Isis, Io, and -Ino were the same as Juno, and Venus also was the same deity under a -different title. Hence in Laconia there was an ancient statue of the -goddess styled Venus Junonia. Juno was also called Cupris, and under that -title was worshipped by the Hetrurians. As Juno was the same with Iöna we -need not wonder at the Iris being her concomitant. BRYANT. - -[195] _Ceres, and Vesta._] Ceres was the deity of fire; hence at Cnidus -she was called Cura: a title of the Sun. The Roman name Ceres, expressed -by Hesychius Gerys, was by the Dorians more properly rendered Garis. It -was originally the name of a city called Charis: for many of the deities -were erroneously called by the names of the places where they were -worshipped. Charis is Char-is, the city of fire: the place where Orus and -Hephaistus were worshipped. It may after this seem extraordinary that she -should ever be esteemed the goddess of corn. This notion arose from the -Greeks not understanding their own theology. The towers of Ceres were -P’urtain or Prutaneia: so called from the fires which were perpetually -there preserved. The Grecians interpreted this _purou tameion_: and -rendered what was a temple, a granary of corn. In consequence of this, -though they did not abolish the ancient usage of the place, they made it -a repository of grain; from whence they gave largesses to the people. In -early times the corn there deposited seems to have been for the priests -or divines: but this was only a secondary use to which these places were -adapted. They were properly sacred towers, where a perpetual fire was -preserved. It was sacred to Hestia, the Vesta of the Romans, which was -only another title for Damater or Ceres: and the sacred hearth had the -same name. BRYANT. - -[196] _Pluto strong._] “Some,” says Diodorus, “think that Osiris is -Serapis: others that he is Dionusus: others still that he is Pluto: -many take him for Zeus or Jupiter, and not a few for Pan.” This was an -unnecessary embarrassment, for they were all titles of the same god. -Pluto, among the best mythologists, was esteemed the same as Jupiter; and -indeed the same as Proserpine, Ceres, Hermes, Apollo, and every other -deity. BRYANT. - -[197] _Earth-shaker Neptune._] The patriarch was commemorated by the -name of Poseidon. Under the character of Neptune Genesius he had a -temple in Argolis: hard by was a spot of ground called _the place of -descent_; similar to the place on mount Ararat, mentioned by Josephus; -and undoubtedly named from the same ancient history. The tradition of the -people of Argolis was, that it was so called because in this spot Danaus -made his first descent from the ship in which he came over. In Arcadia -was a temple of “Neptune _looking-out_.” Poseidon god of the sea was also -reputed the chief god, the deity of fire. This we may infer from his -priest; who was styled P’urcon. P’urcon is the lord of fire or light; and -from the name of the priest we may know the department of the god. He was -no other than the supreme deity, the Sun: from whom all may be supposed -to descend. Hence Neptune in the Orphic verses is, like Zeus or Jupiter, -styled the father of gods and men. BRYANT. - -[198] _Jupiter th’ all-wise._] In the Orphic fragments both Jove and -Bacchus are identified with the Sun: which is described as the source -of all things. Hammon, the African Jupiter, is mentioned by Lucan; who -specifies his having horns. These were the lunar crescent of Apis or -Osiris, the Arkite god. The patriarch, his son Ham, and his grandson -Chus, are reciprocally mixed with each other; in the same manner as the -ark and the dove: the moon, the sun, and the typical serpent, are often -mixed and confounded in this hieroglyphical mythology. - -[199] _To his own son he should bow down his strength._] Although the -Romans made a distinction between Janus and Saturn they were two titles -of one and the same person. The former had the remarkable characteristic -of being the author of time, and the god of the new year: the latter also -was looked upon as the author of time, and held in his hand a serpent, -whose tail was in his mouth and formed a circle: by which emblem was -denoted the renovation of the year. On their coins they were equally -represented with keys in their hand and a ship near them. Janus was -described with two faces: the one that of an aged man; the other that of -a youthful personage. Saturn as of an uncommon age with hair white like -snow: but they had a notion that he would return to infancy. He is also -said to have destroyed all things: which however were restored with vast -increase. BRYANT. - -The faces of Janus, supposed to look to the time past and that which is -to come, evidently regard the æra before the flood and that after it: -and the aged and youthful visage represent the old world and the new. -The keys may allude to the shutting up the productions of the earth, -and again opening them. The ship is the ark. The story of Saturn and -the infant Jupiter involves similar allusions. The old god devouring -his children significantly points to the destruction of the human race. -Saturn and Jupiter seem only separate personifications of the double -visage of Janus: and the infant Jupiter personifies the second infancy -of Saturn. The new order of things which took place on the renovation -of nature is typified in the dethronement of the aged monarch by his -youthful son. - -[200] - - _To succeeding times_ - _A monument._] - -The stone, which Saturn was supposed to have swallowed instead of a -child, stood according to Pausanias at Delphi: it was esteemed very -sacred, and used to have libations of wine poured upon it daily: and upon -festivals was otherwise honoured. The purport of the above history I take -to have been this. It was for a long time the custom to offer children -at the altar of Saturn: but in process of time they removed it, and in -its form erected a stone pillar, before which they made their vows, and -offered sacrifices of another nature. BRYANT. - -[201] _Props the broad heaven._] “This Atlas,” says Maximus Tyrius, “is a -mountain, with a cavity of a tolerable height, which the natives esteem -both as a temple and a deity: and it is the great object by which they -swear, and to which they pay their devotions.” The cave in the mountain -was certainly named Cöel, the house of god: equivalent to Cœlus of the -Romans: and this was the heaven which Atlas was supposed to support. -BRYANT. - -[202] _He bound Prometheus._] Prometheus, who renewed the race of men, -was Noos, or Noah. Prometheus raised the first altar to the gods, -constructed the first ship, and transmitted to posterity many useful -inventions. He was supposed to have lived at the time of the deluge, -and to have been guardian of Ægypt at that season. He was the same as -Osiris, the great husbandman, the planter of the vine, and inventor of -the plough. Prometheus is said to have been exposed on mount Caucasus, -near Colchis, with an eagle placed over him, preying on his heart. These -strange histories are undoubtedly taken from the symbols and devices -which were carved upon the front of the ancient Amonian temples, and -especially those of Ægypt. The eagle and vulture were the insignia of -that country. We are told by Orus Apollo that a heart over burning coals -was an emblem of Ægypt. The history of Tityus, Prometheus, and many other -poetical personages was certainly taken from hieroglyphics misunderstood -and badly explained. Prometheus was worshipped by the Colchians as a -deity, and had a temple and high place upon mount Caucasus: and the -device upon the portal was Ægyptian, an eagle over a heart. BRYANT. - -[203] _Parted a huge ox._] Pliny, book vii. ch. 56, speaks of Prometheus -as the first who slaughtered an ox. This traditionary circumstance is -agreeable to that passage in scriptural history, where Noah receives -the divine permission to kill animals for food: and Hesiod’s tale of -the division of the ox may be only a disfigured representation of the -first sacrifice after the flood. The affinity of Iäpetus, the father of -Prometheus, with Japhet, is very remarkable. This confusion of personages -has been already noticed as common in the ancient mythology. - -[204] _Pernicious is the race._] Lord Kaimes, in his sketches of the -History of Man, i. 6. observes that in the more polished age of Greece -women were treated with but little consideration by their husbands: -and female influence was confined to the artful accomplishments of -courtezans. But it was very different at an earlier æra of society. -“Women in the Homeric age,” remarks Mr. Mitford, “enjoyed more freedom, -and communicated more in business and amusement among men, than in -after-ages has been usual in those eastern countries; far more than at -Athens, in the flourishing times of the commonwealth. Equally, indeed, -Homer’s elegant eulogies and Hesiod’s severe sarcasm prove women to have -been in their days important members of society.” - -Milton has imitated this description of the infelicities supposed to -be produced by woman-kind, in a prophetic complaint, which comes with -beautiful propriety from the lips of Adam: and which his own domestic -unhappiness enabled him to express with feeling. - -[205] - - _The host_ - _Of glorious Titans._] - -The giants, whom Abydenus makes the builders of Babel, are by other -writers represented as the Titans. They are said to have received their -name from their mother Titæa: by which we are to understand that they -were denominated from their religion and place of worship. The ancient -altars consisted of a conical hill of earth, in the shape of a woman’s -breast. Titæa was one of these. It is a term compounded of Tit-aia, and -signifies literally a breast of earth. These altars were also called -Tit-an, and Tit-anis, from the great fountain of night, styled An and -Anis: hence many places were called Titanis and Titana where the worship -of the sun prevailed. By these giants and Titans are always meant the -sons of Ham and Chus. That the sons of Chus were the chief agents -both in erecting the tower of Babel, and in maintaining principles of -rebellion, is plain: for it is said of Nimrod, the son of Chus, that “the -beginning of his kingdom was Babel.” The sons of Chus would not submit -to the divine dispensation in the original disposition of the several -families: and Nimrod, who first took upon him regal state, drove Ashur -from his demesnes, and forced him to take shelter in the higher parts -of Mesopotamia. This was their first act of rebellion and apostacy. -Their second was to erect a lofty tower, as a landmark to repair to, as -a token to direct them, and prevent their being scattered abroad. It -was an idolatrous temple, erected in honour of the sun, and called the -tower of Bel: as the city, from its consecration to the sun, was named -Bel-on: the city of the solar god. Their intention was to have founded -a great, if not an universal, empire: but their purpose was defeated by -the confounding of their labial utterance. By this judgment they were -dispersed; the tower was deserted; and the city left unfinished. These -circumstances seem, in great measure, to be recorded by the gentile -writers. They add, that a war soon after commenced between the Titans and -the family of Zeuth. This was no other than the war mentioned by Moses; -which was carried on by four kings of the family of Shem against the sons -of Ham and Chus. The dispersion from Babylonia had weakened the Cuthites. -The house of Shem took advantage of their dissipation, and recovered the -land of Shinar, which had been unduly usurped by their enemies. After -this success they proceeded farther: and attacked the Titans in all their -quarters. After a contest of some time they made them tributaries: but -upon their rising in rebellion, after a space of thirteen years, the -confederates made a fresh inroad into their countries. “Twelve years -they served Chedorlaomer: and in the thirteenth they rebelled: and in -the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, -and smote the Rephaims in Ashtaroth Karnaim;” who were no other than the -Titans. They were accordingly rendered by the Seventy, “the giant brood -of Ashtaroth:” and the valley of the Rephaim, in Samuel, is translated -“the valley of the Titans.” From the sacred historians we may then infer -that there were two periods of this war. The first, when the king of Elam -and his associates laid the Rephaim under contribution: the other, when, -upon their rebellion, they reduced them a second time to obedience. The -first part is mentioned by several ancient writers, and is said to have -lasted ten years. Hesiod takes notice of both, but makes the first rather -of longer duration: - - Ten years and more they sternly strove in arms. - -In the second engagement the poet informs us that the Titans were quite -discomfited and ruined: and according to the mythology of the Greeks, -they were condemned to reside in Tartarus, at the extremity of the -known world. A large body of Titanians, after their dispersion, settled -in Mauritania: which is the region called Tartarus. The mythologists -adjudged the Titans to the realms of night merely from not attending -to the purport of the term ζοφος. This word described the West, and it -signified also darkness. From this secondary acceptation the Titans of -the West were consigned to the realms of night: being situated, with -respect to Greece towards the regions of the setting sun. BRYANT. - -[206] - - _Wielding aloft_ - _Precipitous rocks._] - -This, perhaps, suggested to Milton the arming the angels with mountains: - - They pluck’d the seated hills with all their load; - Rocks, waters, woods; and by the shaggy tops - Uplifting, bore them in their hands. - - PAR. LOST. vi. - -[207] - - _The dark chasm of hell_ - _Was shaken._] - -This is expanded by Milton with uncommon sublimity: - - Hell heard th’ insufferable noise: hell saw - Heaven ruining from heaven, and would have fled - Affrighted: but strict Fate had cast too deep - Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound. - - Book vi. - -[208] - - _His whole of might_ - _Broke from him._] - -Milton attains to a higher conception of omnipotence in the passage: - - Yet half in strength he put not forth, but check’d - His thunder in mid-volley: for he meant - Not to destroy, but root them out of heaven. - -There is, however, nothing in Milton which equals in sublimity the sudden -expansion of power in the soul of the deity: ειθαρ μεν μενεος πληντο -φρενες. The plan of the battle of angels is evidently built on that of -the battle of giants: the Messiah, like Hesiod’s Jove, coming forth to -decide the contest; and sending before him thunderbolts and plagues. -Milton’s magnificent imagery of the chariot is borrowed from the vision -of the prophet Ezekiel. - -[209] - - _Through the void_ - _Of Erebus._] - -Χαος is here only a gulf or void. Le Clerc quotes Aristophanes to show -that it is the vacuity of air: but the conflagration of air has already -been described. Grævius is undoubtedly right in interpreting it the -subterraneous abyss, or Erebus: in which sense it is afterwards used by -Hesiod; when the Titans are said to dwell “beyond the obscure chaos,” or -chasm. Virgil uses chaos in this acceptation, Æneid. vi. 205: - - Ye silent shades! - Oh Chaos hoar! and Phlegethon profound! - - PITT. - -So also Ovid, Metamorph. x. Orpheus to Pluto and Proserpine: - - I call you by those sights so full of fear: - This chaos vast; these silent kingdoms drear! - -[210] - - _The heaven and earth_ - _Met hurtling in mid-air._] - -Milton, Paradise Lost, book ii: - - Nor was his ear less pealed - With noises loud and ruinous ... - than if this frame - Of heaven were falling, and these elements - In mutiny had from their axle torn - The steadfast earth. - -[211] _The war-unsated Gyges._] Hesiod has confounded the history by -supposing the Giants and Titans to have been different persons. He -accordingly makes them oppose each other: and even Cottus, Briareus, and -Gyges, whom all other writers mention as Titans, are by him introduced -in opposition, and described as of another family. His description is -however much to the purpose, and the first contest and dispersion are -plainly alluded to. BRYANT. - -[212] _The Titan host o’er-shadowing._] Milton, Par. Lost, b. vi.: - - Themselves invaded next and on their heads - Main promontories flung, which in the air - Came shadowing, and oppress’d whole legions arm’d. - -[213] - - _So far beneath_ - _This earth._] - -Virgil, Æn. vi. 577: - - The gaping gulf low to the centre lies, - And twice as deep as earth is distant from the skies: - The rivals of the gods, the Titan race, - Here, singed with lightning, roll within th’ unfathom’d space. - - DRYDEN. - -[214] - - _The verge_ - _Of Tartarus._] - -The ancients had a notion that the earth was a widely extended plain, -which terminated abruptly in a vast clift of immeasurable descent. At the -bottom was a chaotic pool, which so far sunk beneath the confines of the -world, that, to express the depth and distance, they imagined an anvil of -iron, tossed from the top, could not reach it in ten days. This mighty -pool was the great Atlantic ocean: and these extreme parts of the earth -were Mauritania and Iberia: for in each of these countries the Titans -resided. BRYANT. - -This explains the introduction of Atlas before the gates of Tartarus: -Guietus is therefore in error when, not being able to account for this -situation of Atlas, he marks the passage as supposititious. - -Milton’s classical reading appears in his admeasurement of the distance -which the rebel angels passed in their fall from heaven: - - _Nine_ days they fell: the _tenth_ the yawning gulf - Received them. - -[215] _Arise and end._] Seneca, Hercules Frantic: - - Rank with corruption’s moss the sterile vast - Of that abyss: th’ unsightly earth is numb’d - In its eternal barren hoariness: - The dismal end of things: - The limits of the world: - Air moveless hangs with clinging weight above: - And black night brooding sits - Upon the lifeless universe. - -[216] _A drear and ghastly wilderness._] Homer, Il. xx.: - - A dismal wilderness - Hoary with desolation: which the gods - Behold, and shuddering turn their eyes away. - -[217] - - _But him the whirls of vexing hurricanes_ - _Toss to and fro._] - -Dante, Inferno, canto quinto: - - I venn’ in luogo d’ogni luce muto: - Che mughia, come fa mar per tempesta, - Se da contrarii venti se combattuto: - La bufera infernale, che mai non resta, - Mena gli spiriti con la sua rapina, - Voltando et percuotendo gli molesta. - - They reach a spot, void of all ray of light, - Which howls as seas in storms, where winds opposing fight: - The hellish whirlwind, never resting, hurls - The hovering spirits snatch’d upon its whirls: - And vexing smites, and eddying turns them round. - -Milton seems to have conceived from this passage of Hesiod his idea of -Satan falling down the chaotic void, book ii.: - - A vast vacuity: all unawares, - Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down he drops - Ten thousand fathoms deep: and to this hour - Down had been falling, had not, by ill chance, - The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud - Instinct with fire and nitre hurried him - As many miles aloft. - -[218] - - _Alternate as they glide athwart_ - _The brazen threshold._] - -Milton, Par. Lost, vi. 4: - - There is a cave - Within the mount of God, fast by his throne, - Where light and darkness in perpetual round - Lodge and dislodge by turns, which makes through heaven - Grateful vicissitude, like day and night: - Light issues forth, and at the other door - Obsequious darkness enters, till her hour - To veil the heaven. - -[219] _Sleep, Death’s half brother._] Virg. Æn. vi. 278: - - Here Toils and Death, and Death’s half-brother Sleep, - Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep. - - DRYDEN. - -[220] - - _Nor them the shining Sun_ - _E’er with his beam contemplates._] - -Odyssey, xi. 14: - - With clouds and darkness veil’d: on whom the Sun - Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye: - Or when he climbs the starry arch, or when - Earthward he slopes again his westering wheels. - - COWPER. - -[221] - - _To immortal gods_ - _A foe._] - -Probably from his destroying the human favourites of the gods, and the -sons of the goddesses who have descended to mortal amours: as in the -instances of Hyacinthus, the favourite of Apollo; and Memnon, the son of -Aurora; whose death and burial are described with such romantic fancy in -Quintus Calaber, Post-Homerics, or Supplemental Iliad. - -[222] _And stern Prosérpina._] Many of the temples of Ceres were -dedicated to the deity under the name of Persephone or Proserpine, who -was supposed her daughter; but they were in reality the same personage. -Persephone was styled Cora; which the Greeks misinterpreted the virgin or -damsel. This was the same as Cura, a feminine title of the Sun; by which -Ceres also was called at Cnidos. However mild and gentle Proserpine may -have been represented in her virgin state by the poets, yet her tribunal -seems in many places to have been very formidable. In consequence of this -we find her, with Minos and Rhadamanthus, condemned to the shades below -as an infernal inquisitor. Nonnus says, “Proserpine armed the Furies:” -the notion of which Furies arose from the cruelties practised in the -Prutaneia, or fire-temples. They were originally only priests of fire; -but were at last ranked among the hellish tormentors. Herodotus speaks -of a Prutaneion in Achaia Pthiotic, of which he gives a fearful account. -No person, he says, ever entered the precincts, that returned: whatever -person strayed that way was immediately seized upon by the priests and -sacrificed. BRYANT. - -[223] - - _With arch’d roofs_ - _Of loftiest rock o’erhung._] - -Not far from the ruins (of Nonacrum, a town of Arcadia,) is a lofty -cliff: I have seen none that ascended to such a height. A stream distils -from the declivity. This water is denominated Styx by the Greeks. It is -deadly to man and to all animals whatever. PAUSANIAS, _Arcadics_, b. viii. - -Le Clerc supposes an opinion to have existed, that a person wrongfully -accused might securely drink the water of Styx: and conceives Hesiod to -mean that the gods drank of the water at the same time that they made a -libation, and if they took a false oath, were convicted by the lethargic -properties of this noxious stream. - -[224] _Jove sends Iris down._] To this covenant (with Noah) Hesiod -alludes: he calls it the great oath. He says that this oath was Iris, -or the bow in the heavens; to which the deity appealed when any of the -inferior divinities were guilty of an untruth. On such an occasion the -great oath of the gods was appointed to fetch water from the extremities -of the ocean, with which those were tried who had falsified their word. -BRYANT. - -The words will certainly admit of this construction; but the context -directs that the great oath be connected with the Stygian water. The -employment of Iris on the mission is still a remarkable coincidence with -the diluvian covenant. - -[225] _The sacred river-head._] That is, the ocean; which probably -received this title from the Nile, a river highly venerated, being of old -called the Oceanus. Styx is said to be a horn, or branch of the ocean, -from the ancient idea that all rivers sprang from it: Homer Il. 21: - - Therefore not kingly Acheloius, - Nor yet the strength of ocean’s vast profound: - Although from him all rivers and all seas, - All fountains and all wells proceed, can boast - Comparison with Jove. - - COWPER. - -The rivers of Earth and Orcus were believed to communicate; thus Virgil, -Æn. vi. 658, of the Elysian fields: - - In fragrant laurel groves, where Po’s vast flood - From upper earth rolls copious through the wood. - -[226] - - _Libation pours_ - _And is forsworn._] - -It was customary to pour a libation, while taking a solemn oath. Thus in -the third Iliad: - - Then pouring from the beaker to the cups - They fill’d them. - All-glorious Jove, and ye, the powers of heaven! - Whoso shall violate this contract first, - So be their blood, their children’s and their own, - Pour’d out, as this libation on the ground. - - COWPER. - -[227] _Her youngest-born Typhœus._] Taph, which at times was rendered -Tuph, Toph, and Taphos, was a name current among the Amonians, by which -they called their high places. Lower Ægypt being a flat, and annually -overflowed, the natives were forced to raise the soil on which they built -their principal edifices, in order to secure them from the inundation: -and many of their sacred towers were erected on conical mounds of earth. -There were often hills of the same form constructed for religious -purposes, upon which there was no building. These were high altars; on -which they used sometimes to offer human sacrifices. Tophet, where the -Israelites made their children pass through fire to Moloch, was a mount -of this form. Those cities in Ægypt which had a high place of this sort, -and rites in consequence of it, were styled Typhonian. Many writers say -that these rites were performed to Typhon at the tomb of Osiris. Hence he -was in later times supposed to have been a person; one of immense size; -and he was also esteemed a god. But this arose from the common mistake by -which places were substituted for the deities there worshipped. Typhon -was the Tuph-on, or altar; and the offerings were made to the Sun, styled -On; the same as Osiris and Busiris. What they called his tombs were -mounds of earth raised very high: some of these had also lofty towers -adorned with pinnacles and battlements. They had also carved on them -various symbols; and particularly serpentine hieroglyphics; in memorial -of the god to whom they were sacred. In their upper story was a perpetual -fire, that was plainly seen in the night. The gigantic stature of Typhon -was borrowed from this object: and his character was formed from the -hieroglyphical representations in the temples styled Typhonian. This may -be inferred from the allegorical description of Typhœus given by Hesiod. -Typhon and Typhœus were the same personage; and the poet represents him -of a mixed form; being partly a man, and partly a monstrous dragon, whose -head consisted of an assemblage of smaller serpents: and as there was a -perpetual fire kept up in the upper story, he describes it as shining -through the apertures of the building. The tower of Babel was undoubtedly -a Tuph-on, or altar of the Sun; though generally represented as a -temple. Hesiod certainly alludes to some ancient history concerning the -demolition of Babel, when he describes Typhon or Typhœus as overthrown by -Jove. He represents him as the youngest son of Earth; as a deity of great -strength and immense stature; and adds what is very remarkable, that had -it not been for the interposition of the chief god, this dæmon would have -obtained a universal empire. BRYANT. - -Equally remarkable is the diversity of voices, described as issuing -from the different heads of the giant. In the Mexican mythology a giant -builds an artificial hill, in the form of a pyramid, as a memorial of the -mountain, in whose caverns he, with six others, had taken shelter from a -deluge. This monument was to reach the clouds; but the gods destroyed it -with fire. See Humboldt’s American Researches. - -[228] - - _Beneath his everlasting feet_ - _The great Olympus trembled._] - -Mr. Todd, in his notes on Milton, quotes the passage describing the -rushing of the Messiah’s chariot, as superior in grandeur to this of -Hesiod: - - Under his burning wheels - The steadfast empyreum shook throughout, - All but the throne itself of God. - -The majesty of Milton’s exception certainly exceeds Hesiod in loftiness -of thought: but the mere rising of Jupiter causing the mountain to -rock beneath his eternal feet, is more sublime than the shaking of the -firmament from the rolling of wheels. - -[229] _The lightning-stricken deity._] Τοιο ανακτος. _King_ is merely a -title of deity, and was applied before to Prometheus. - -[230] _The woody dales._] Forges were erected in woody valleys, on -account of the abundance of fuel. GUIETUS. - -[231] _Lo! from Typhœus is the strength of winds._] By these are meant -the intermediary winds: with some of which it is evident that Hesiod -was acquainted, although perhaps they were not yet distinguished by -names. The ancient Greeks at first used only the four cardinal winds: -but afterwards admitted four collaterals. Vitruvius enumerates twenty -collateral winds in the Roman practice. - -[232] _These born from gods._] That is, from _superior_ gods: as Aurora -and Astræus. - -[233] _Led Metis._] One of the most ancient deities of the Amonians was -named Meed or Meet; by which was signified divine wisdom. It was rendered -by the Grecians Metis. It was represented under the symbol of a beautiful -female countenance surrounded with serpents. BRYANT. - -The figure of wedding Wisdom occurs in “The Wisdom of Solomon,” ch. viii. -v. 2. “I loved her, and sought her out from my youth: I desired to make -her my spouse, and I was a lover of her beauty.” - -In the Proverbs, Solomon describes Wisdom as the companion of Deity, in -the language of exquisite poetry: - -“I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth -was. When there were no depths I was brought forth: when there were -no fountains abounding with water. When he prepared the heavens I -was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depths: when he -established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of -the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree: when he appointed the -foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him: -and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.” Chap. viii. - -[234] - - _The blue-eyed maid_ - _Minerva._] - -An-ath signified the _fountain of light_: and was abbreviated Nath -and Neith by the Ægyptians. They worshipped under this title a divine -emanation, supposed to be the goddess of Wisdom. The Athenians, who -came from Sais, in Ægypt, were denominated from this deity, whom they -expressed Athana, or in the Ionian manner, Athene. BRYANT. - -Cudworth mentions Hammon and Neith as titles for one and the same deity; -and quotes Plutarch as authority that Isis and Neith were also the -same among the Ægyptians: and therefore the temple of Neith or Athene -(Minerva) at Sais, was by him called the temple of Isis. Intellectual -System, b. i. ch. 4. - -[235] _Brought the three Graces forth._] As Charis was a tower sacred to -fire, some of the poets supposed a nymph of that name, who was beloved -by Vulcan. Homer speaks of her as his wife. The Graces were said to -be related to the Sun, who was, in reality, the same as Vulcan. The -Sun, among the people of the East, was called Hares, and with a strong -guttural, Chares: and his temple was styled Tor-chares: this the Greeks -expressed Tricharis; and from thence formed a notion of three Graces. -BRYANT. - -[236] _The arrow-shooting Dian._] Artemis Diana and Venus Dione were in -reality the same deity, and had the same departments. This sylvan goddess -was distinguished by a crescent, as well as Juno Samia; and was an emblem -of the Arkite history, and in consequence of it was supposed to preside -over waters. BRYANT. - -[237] _Hebe._] Hebe is a mere personification of youth. The poets made -her the cup-bearer of the gods, as an emblem of their immortality. - -[238] - - _Pallas; fierce,_ - _Rousing the war-field’s tumult._] - -In her martial character Minerva is intended to personify the wisdom and -policy of war as opposed to brute force and animal courage; which are -represented by Mars. - -[239] _Illustrious Vulcan._] The author of the New Analysis has exploded -the notion that Vulcan was the same with Tubal-cain: who is mentioned in -Genesis iv. 22, as “an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron:” -for nothing of this craft was of old attached to Hephaistus or Vulcan: -who was the god of fire; that is, the Sun. Later mythologists degraded -him to a blacksmith; and placed him over the Cyclops, or Cyclopians, the -Sicilian worshippers of fire. The emblems carved in the temples led to -the idea of Vulcan and the Cyclops forging thunderbolts and weapons for -the celestial armoury. - -[240] _Sea-potent Triton._] The Hetrurians erected on their shores towers -and beacons for the sake of their navigation, which they called Tor-ain: -whence they had a still farther denomination of Tor-aini (Tyrrheni). -Another name for buildings of this nature was Tirit or Turit: which -signified a tower or turret. The name of Triton is a contraction of -Tirit-on: and signifies the tower of the Sun: but a deity was framed from -it, who was supposed to have had the appearance of a man upwards, but -downwards to have been like a fish. The Hetrurians are thought to have -been the inventors of trumpets; and in their towers on the sea-coast -there were people appointed to be continually on the watch, both by -day and by night, and to give a proper signal if any thing happened -extraordinary. This was done by a blast from the trumpet. In early times, -however, these brazen instruments were but little known; and people were -obliged to use what were near at hand; the conchs of the sea: by sounding -these they gave signals from the tops of the towers when any ship -appeared: and this is the implement with which Triton is more commonly -furnished. So Amphi-tirit is merely an oracular tower, which by the poets -has been changed into Amphitrite, and made the wife of Neptune. BRYANT. - -[241] - - _Venus gave to Mars,_ - _Breaker of shields, a dreadful offspring._] - -The making the goddess of Love, Concord, and Fertility, the spouse of -Mars, and the mother of Fear and Terror, is obviously of later invention -and of Grecian origin: and was, no doubt, suggested by the Rape of Helen, -which was supposed to be instigated by Venus, and which kindled the war -of Troy. See that elegant and classical poem of the sixth century: “The -Rape of Helen” of Coluthus. - -[242] - - _Harmonia last_ - _She bare, whom generous Cadmus clasp’d as bride._] - -I am persuaded that no such person as Cadmus ever existed. If we consider -the whole history of this celebrated hero, we shall find that it was -impossible for any one person to have effected what he is supposed to -have performed. They were not the achievements of one person nor of one -age: the travels of Cadmus, like the expeditions of Perseus, Sesostris, -and Osiris, relate to colonies, which at different times went abroad and -were distinguished by this title. As colonies of the same denomination -went to parts of the world widely distant, their ideal chieftain, whether -Cadmus, or Bacchus, or Hercules, was supposed to have traversed the same -ground. - -Harmonia, the wife of Cadmus, who has been esteemed a mere woman, seems -to have been an emblem of nature, and the fostering nurse of all things. -In some of the Orphic verses she is represented not only as a deity, but -as the light of the world. She was supposed to have been a personage -from whom all knowledge was derived. On this account the books of science -were styled the books of Harmonia: as well as the books of Hermes. These -were four in number; of which Nonnus gives a curious account, and says -that they contained matter of wonderful antiquity. The first of them is -said to be coeval with the world. Hence we find that Hermon or Harmonia -was a deity to whom the first writing is ascribed. The same is said of -Hermes. The invention is also attributed to Thoth. Cadmus is said not -only to have brought letters into Greece, but to have been the inventor -of them. Whence we may fairly conclude, that under the characters of -Hermon, Hermes, Thoth, and Cadmus, one person is alluded to. - -The story of Cadmus, and of the serpent with which he engaged upon -his arrival in Bœotia, relates to the Ophite worship which was there -instituted by the Cadmians. So Jason in Colchis, Apollo in Phocis, -Hercules at Lerna, engaged with serpents: all of which are histories of -the same purport, but mistaken by the latter Grecians. It is said of -Cadmus that, at the close of his life, he was, together with his wife -Harmonia, changed into a serpent of stone. This wonderful metamorphosis -is supposed to have happened at Encheliæ, a town of Illyria. The true -history is this. These two personages were here enshrined in a temple, -and worshipped under the symbol of a serpent. BRYANT. - -[243] _The glorious Hermes, herald of the gods._] The Ægyptians -acknowledged two personages under the title of Hermes and Thoth. The -first was the same as Osiris; the most ancient of all the gods, and the -head of all. The other was called the second Hermes; and likewise, for -excellence, styled Trismegistus. This person is said to have been a great -adept in mysterious knowledge, and an interpreter of the will of the -gods. He was a great prophet; and on that account was looked upon as a -divinity. To him they ascribed the reformation of the Ægyptian year: -and there were many books, either written by him, or concerning him, -which were preserved by the Ægyptians in the most sacred recesses of -their temples. As he had been the cause of great riches to their nation, -they styled him the dispenser of wealth, and esteemed him the god of -gain. We are told that the true name of this Hermes was Siphoas. What is -Siphoas but Aosiph misplaced? and is not Aosiph the Ægyptian name of the -patriarch Joseph, as he was called by the Hebrews? BRYANT. - -[244] _Semele._] The amour of Jupiter with Semele is described with -brilliant luxuriancy of fancy and diction by Nonnus in his Dionysiacs. - -[245] _Bacchus of golden hair._] The history of Dionusus is closely -connected with that of Bacchus, though they were two distinct persons. -Dionusos is interpreted by the Latins Bacchus; but very improperly. -Bacchus was Chus, the grandson of Noah; as Ammon was Ham. Dionusus was -Noah; expressed Noos, Nus, Nusus; the planter of the vine, and the -inventor of fermented liquors: whence he was also denominated Zeuth; -which signifies ferment; rendered Zeus by the Greeks. Dionusus was the -same as Osiris. According to the Grecian mythology, he is represented -as having been twice born; and is said to have had two fathers and two -mothers. He was also exposed in an ark, and wonderfully preserved. The -purport of which histories is plain. We must, however, for the most part, -consider the account given of Dionusus as the history of the Dionusians. -This is two-fold: part relates to their rites and religion, in which the -great events of the infant world and preservation of mankind in general -were recorded: in the other part, which contains the expeditions and -conquests of this personage, are enumerated the various colonies of the -people who were denominated from him. They were the same as the Osirians -and Herculeans. There were many places which claimed his birth: and as -many where was shown the spot of his interment. The Grecians, wherever -they met with a grot or cavern sacred to him, took it for granted that -he was born there: and wherever he had a taphos, or high altar, supposed -that he was there buried. The same is also observable in the history of -all the gods. - -There are few characters which at first sight appear more distinct than -those of Apollo and Bacchus. Yet the department which is generally -appropriated to Apollo as the Sun, I mean the conduct of the year, is by -Virgil given to Bacchus, Georg. i. 5: - - Lights of the world! ye brightest orbs on high, - Who lead the sliding year around the sky, - Bacchus and Ceres! - - WARTON. - -Hence we find that Bacchus is the Sun or Apollo; in reality they were -all three the same; he was the ruling deity of the world. BRYANT. - -In this passage of Virgil, Ceres is Luna, or the Moon. - -[246] _Alcmena’s valiant son._] Hercules was a title given to the chief -deity of the gentiles: who has been multiplied into almost as many -personages as there were countries where he was worshipped. What has -been attributed to this god singly was the work of Herculeans, a people -who went under this title, among the many which they assumed, and who -were the same as the Osirians, Peresians, and Cuthites. Wherever there -were Herculeans, a Hercules has been supposed. Hence his character has -been variously represented. One while he appears little better than a -sturdy vagrant: at other times he is mentioned as a great benefactor; -also as the patron of science; the god of eloquence, with the Muses in -his train. He was the same as Hermes, Osiris, and Dionusus; and his rites -were introduced into various parts by the Cuthites. In the detail of his -peregrinations is contained in great measure a history of that people, -and of their settlements. Each of these the Greeks have described as a -warlike expedition, and have taken the glory of it to themselves. BRYANT. - -[247] _Medea._] The natives of Colchis and Pontus were of the Cuthite -race: they were much skilled in simples. Their country abounded in -medicinal herbs, of which they made use both to good and bad purposes. -In the fable of Medea we may read the character of the people: for that -princess is represented as very knowing in all the productions of nature, -and as gifted with supernatural powers. BRYANT. - -[248] _Plutus._] Plutus is the same with Pluto: who, in his subterranean -character, presided over all the riches of the ground: whether metallic -or vegetable. - -[249] _Jason._] In the account of the Argo we have, undeniably, the -history of a sacred ship; the first which was ever constructed. This -truth the best writers among the Grecians confess; though the merit -of the performance they would fain take to themselves. Yet after all -their prejudices, they continually betray the truth, and show that the -history was derived to them from Ægypt. Plutarch informs us, that the -constellation, which the Greeks called the Argo, was a representation of -the sacred ship of Osiris: and that it was out of reverence placed in -the heavens. The ship of Osiris was esteemed the first ship constructed; -and was no other than the ark. Jason was certainly a title of the Arkite -god; the same as Areas, Argus, Inachus, and Prometheus: and the temples -supposed to have been built by him in regions so remote were temples -erected to his honour. It is said of this personage that, when a child, -he underwent the same fate as Osiris, Perseus, and Dionusus: “he was -concealed, and shut up in an ark, as if he had been dead.” BRYANT. - -[250] _Sage Chiron._] Chiron, so celebrated for his knowledge, was a -mere personage formed from a tower or temple of that name. It stood in -Thessaly; and was inhabited by a set of priests called Centauri. They -were so denominated from the deity they worshipped, who was represented -under a particular form. They styled him Cahen-taur: and he was the same -as the Minotaur of Crete, and the Tauromen of Sicilia: consequently of -an emblematical and mixed figure. The people, by whom this worship was -introduced, were many of them Anakim; and are accordingly represented -as of great strength and stature. Such persons among the people of -the East were styled _nephele_, which the Greeks, in after-times, -supposed to relate to Nephele, a cloud: and in consequence described the -Centaurs as born of a cloud. Chiron was a temple: probably at Nephele -in Thessalia; the most ancient seat of the Nephelim. His name is a -compound of Chir-on: the tower or temple of the Sun. In places of this -sort, people used to study the heavenly motions; and they were made use -of for seminaries, where young persons were instructed. Hence Achilles -was said to have been taught by Chiron; who is reported to have had many -disciples. BRYANT. - -[251] _Circe._] From the knowledge of the Cuthites in herbs we may justly -infer a great excellence in physic. Ægypt the nurse of arts, was much -celebrated for botany. To the Titanians, or race of Chus, was attributed -the invention of chemistry: hence it is said by Syncellus, that chemistry -was the discovery of the Giants. Circe and Calypso are, like Medea, -represented as very experienced in pharmacy and simples. Under these -characters we have the history of Cuthite priestesses, who presided in -particular temples near the sea-coast, and whose charms and incantations -were thought to have a wonderful influence. The nymphs who attended them -were a lower order in these sacred colleges; and they were instructed by -their superiors in their arts and mysteries. BRYANT. - - - - -The Shield of Hercules. - - - - -THE SHIELD OF HERCULES. - - -The Argument. - -I. The arrival of Alcmena at Thebes, as the companion of her husband’s -exile. The expedition of Amphitryon against the Teloboans. The artifice -of Jupiter, who anticipates his return, and steals the embraces of -Alcmena. The birth of Hercules. - -II. The meeting of Hercules with Cygnus: the description of his armour: -and particularly of his SHIELD, diversified with sculptured imagery. - -III. The combat: and the burial of Cygnus. - - -THE SHIELD OF HERCULES. - - Or as Alcmena, from Electryon born, - The guardian of his people, her lov’d home - And natal soil abandoning, to Thebes - Came with Amphitryon: with the brave in war. - She all the gentle race of womankind - [252]In height surpass’d and beauty: nor with her - Might one in prudence vie, of all who sprang - From mortal fair-ones, blending in embrace - With mortal men. Both from her tressed head, - And [253]from the darkening lashes of her eyes, - She breathed enamouring odour like the breath - Of balmy Venus: passing fair she was, - Yet not the less her consort with heart-love - Revered she; so had never woman loved. - Though he her noble sire by violent strength - Had slain, amid [254]those herds, the cause of strife, - Madden’d to sudden rage: his native soil - He left, and thence to the Cadmean state, - Shield-bearing tribe, came supplicant: and there - Dwelt with his modest spouse; yet from the joys - Of love estranged: for he might not ascend - The couch of her, the beautiful of feet, - Till for the slaughter of her brethren brave, - His arm had wreak’d revenge; and burn’d with fire - The guilty cities of those warlike men - Taphians and Teloboans. This the task - Assign’d: the gods on high that solemn vow - Had witness’d: of their anger visitant - In fear he stood; and speeded in all haste - T’ achieve the mighty feat, imposed by Heaven. - Him the Bœotians, gorers of the steed, - Who coveting the war-shout and the shock - Of battle o’er the buckler breathe aloft - Their open valour: him the Locrian race - Close-combating; and of undaunted soul, - The Phocians follow’d: towering in the van - Amphitryon gallant shone: and in his host - Gloried. But other counsel secret wove - Within his breast the sire of gods and men: - That both to gods and to th’ inventive race - Of man a great deliverer might arise - Sprung from his loins, of plague-repelling fame. - Deep-framing in his inmost soul deceit, - He through the nightly darkness took his way - From high Olympus, glowing with the love - Of her, the fair-one of the graceful zone. - Swift to the Typhaonian mount he pass’d: - Thence drew nigh Phycium’s lofty ridge: sublime - There sitting, the wise counsellor of heaven - Revolved a work divine. That self-same night - He sought the couch of her, who stately treads - With long-paced step; and melting in her arms - Took there his fill of love. That self-same night - The host-arousing chief, the mighty deed - Perform’d, in glory to his home returned: - Nor to the vassals and the shepherd hinds - His footstep bent, before he climb’d the couch - Of his Alcmena: such inflaming love - Seiz’d in the deep recesses of his heart - The chief of thousands. And as he, that scarce - Escapes, and yet escapes, from grievous plague - Or the hard-fettering chain, flies free away - Joyful,—so struggling through that arduous toil - With pain accomplish’d, wishful, eager, traced - The prince his homeward way. The live-long night - He with the modest partner of his bed - Embracing lay, and revell’d in delight - The bounteous bliss of love’s all-charming queen. - Thus by a god and by the first of men - Alike subdued to love, Alcmena gave - Twin-brethren birth, within the seven-fold gates - Of Thebes: yet brethren though they were, unlike - Their natures: this of weaker strain; but that - Far more of man; valorous and stern and strong. - Him, Hercules, conceived she from th’ embrace - Of the cloud-darkener: to th’ Alcæan chief, - Shaker of spears, gave Iphiclus: a race - Distinct: nor wonder: this of mortal man, - That of imperial Jove. The same who slew - The lofty-minded Cygnus, child of Mars. - For in the grove of the far-darting god - He found him: and insatiable of war - His father Mars beside. Both bright in arms, - Bright as the sheen of burning flame, they stood - On their high chariot; and the horses fleet - Trampled the ground with rending hoofs: around - In parted circle smoked the cloudy dust, - Up-dash’d beneath the trampling hoofs, and cars - Of complicated frame. The well-framed cars - Rattled aloud: loud clash’d the wheels: while rapt - In their full speed the horses flew. Rejoiced - The noble Cygnus; for the hope was his, - Jove’s warlike offspring and his charioteer - To slay, and strip them of their gorgeous mail. - But to his vows the Prophet-god of day - Turn’d a deaf ear: for he himself set on - Th’ assault of Hercules. Now all the grove, - And Phœbus’ altar, flash’d with glimmering arms - Of that tremendous god: himself blazed light, - And darted radiance from his eye-balls glared - As it were flame. But who of mortal mould - Had e’er endured in daring opposite - To rush before him, save but Hercules, - And Ioläus, an illustrious name? - For mighty strength was theirs: and arms that stretch’d - From their broad shoulders unapproachable - In valorous force, above their nervous frames: - He therefore thus bespoke his charioteer: - “Oh hero Ioläus! dearest far - To me of all the race of mortal men; - I deem it sure that ’gainst the blest of Heaven - Amphitryon sinn’d, when to the fair-wall’d Thebes - He came, forsaking Tirynth’s well-built walls, - Electryon midst the strife of wide-brow’d herds - Slain by his hand: to Creon suppliant came, - And her of flowing robe, Henioche: - Who straight embraced, and all of needful aid - Lent hospitable, as to suppliant due: - And more for this, e’en from the heart they gave - All honour and observance. So he lived, - Exulting in his graceful-ankled spouse - Alcmena. When the rapid year roll’d round, - We, far unlike in stature and in soul, - Were born, thy sire and I: him Jove bereaved - Of wisdom; who from his parental home - Went forth, and to the fell Eurystheus bore - His homage. Wretch! for he most sure bewail’d - In after-time that grievous fault, a deed - Irrevocable. On myself has Fate - Laid heavy labours. But, oh friend! oh now - Quick snatch the purple reins of these my steeds - Rapid of hoof: the manly courage rouse - Within thee: now with strong unerring grasp - Guide the swift chariot’s whirl, and wind the steeds - Rapid of hoof: fear nought the dismal yell - Of mortal-slayer Mars, whilst to and fro - He ranges fierce Apollo’s hallow’d grove - With frenzying shout: for, be he as he may - War-mighty, he of war shall take his fill.” - Then answer’d Ioläus: “Oh revered! - Doubtless the father of the gods and men - Thy head delights to honour; and the god - Who keeps [255]the wall of Thebes and guards her towers, - [256]Bull-visaged Neptune: so be sure they give - Unto thy hand this mortal huge and strong, - That from the conflict thou mayst bear away - High glory. But now haste—in warlike mail - Dress now thy limbs, that, rapidly as thought - Mingling the shock of cars, we may be join’d - In battle. He th’ undaunted son of Jove - Shall strike not with his terrors, nor yet me - Iphiclides: but swiftly, as I deem, - Shall he to flight betake him, from the race - Of brave Alcæus: who now pressing nigh - Gain on their foes and languish for the shout - Of closing combat; to their eager ear - More grateful than the banquet’s revelry.” - He said: and Hercules smiled stern his joy - Elate of thought: for he had spoken words - Most welcome. Then with winged accents thus: - “Jove-foster’d hero! it is e’en at hand, - The battle’s rough encounter: thou, as erst, - In martial prudence firm, aright, aleft, - With vantage of the fray, unerring guide - Arion huge, the sable-maned, and me - Aid in the doubtful contest, as thou mayst.” - Thus having said, he sheathed his legs in greaves - Of mountain brass, resplendent-white: famed gift - Of Vulcan: o’er his breast he fitted close - The corselet, variegated, beautiful, - Of shining gold; this Jove-born Pallas gave, - When first he rush’d to meet the mingling groans - Of battle. Then the mighty man athwart - His shoulder slung the sword, whose edge repels - Th’ approach of mortal harms: and clasp’d around - His bosom, and reclining o’er his back, - He cast the hollow quiver. Lurk’d therein - Full many arrows: shuddering horror they - Inflicted, and the agony of death - Sudden, that chokes the suffocated voice: - The points were barb’d with death, and bitter steep’d - In human tears: burnish’d the lengthening shafts: - And they were feather’d from the tawny plume - Of eagles. Now he grasp’d the solid spear - Sharpen’d with brass: and on his brows of strength - Placed the forged helm, high-wrought in adamant, - That cased the temples round, and fenced the head - Of Hercules: the man of heavenly birth. - Then with his hands he raised THE SHIELD, of disk - Diversified: might none with missile aim - Pierce, nor th’ impenetrable substance rive - Shattering: a wondrous frame: since all throughout - Bright with enamel, and with ivory, - And [257]mingled metal; and with ruddy gold - Refulgent, and with azure plates inlaid. - The scaly terror of a dragon coil’d - Full in the central field; unspeakable; - With eyes oblique retorted, that aslant - Shot gleaming flame: his hollow jaw was fill’d - Dispersedly with jagged fangs of white, - Grim, unapproachable. And next above - The dragon’s forehead fell, stern Strife in air - Hung hovering, and array’d the war of men: - Haggard; whose aspect from all mortals reft - All mind and soul; whoe’er in brunt of arms - Should match their strength, and face the son of Jove. - Below this earth their spirits to th’ abyss - Descend: and through the flesh that wastes away - Beneath the parching sun, their whitening bones - Start forth, and moulder in the sable dust. - [258]Pursuit was there, and fiercely rallying Flight, - Tumult and Terror: burning Carnage glow’d: - Wild Discord madden’d there, and frantic Rout - Ranged to and fro. A deathful Destiny - There grasp’d a living man, that bled afresh - From recent wound: another, yet unharm’d, - Dragg’d furious; and a third, already dead, - Trail’d by the feet amid the throng of war: - And o’er her shoulders was a garment thrown - Dabbled in human blood: and in her look - Was horror: and a deep funereal cry - Broke from her lips. There indescribable - Twelve serpent heads rose dreadful: and with fear - Froze all, who drew on earth the breath of life, - Whoe’er should match their strength in brunt of arms, - And face the son of Jove: and oft as he - Moved to the battle, from their clashing fangs - A sound was heard. Such miracles display’d - The buckler’s field, with living blazonry - Resplendent: and those fearful snakes were streak’d - O’er their cærulean backs with streaks of jet: - And their jaws blacken’d with a jetty dye. - Wild from the forest, [259]herds of boars were there, - And lions, mutual-glaring; and in wrath - Leap’d on each other; and by troops they drove - Their onset: nor yet these nor those recoil’d, - Nor quaked in fear. Of both the backs uprose - Bristling with anger: for a lion huge - Lay stretched amidst them, and two boars beside - Lifeless: the sable blood down-dropping ooz’d - Into the ground. So these with bowed backs - Lay dead beneath the terrible lions: they, - For this the more incensed, both savage boars - And tawny lions, chafing sprang to war. - There too [260]the battle of the Lapithæ - Was wrought; the spear-arm’d warriors: Cæneus king, - Hopleus, Phalérus, and Pirithous, - And Dryas, and Exadius: Prolochus, - Mopsus of Titaressa, Ampyx’ son, - A branch of Mars, and Theseus like a god: - Son of Ægéus: silver were their limbs, - Their armour golden: and to them opposed - The Centaur band stood thronging: Asbolus, - Prophet of birds; Petræus huge of height; - Arctus, and Urius, and of raven locks - Mimas; the two Peucidæ, Dryalus, - And Perimedes: all of silver frame, - And grasping golden pine-trees in their hands. - At once they onset made: in very life - They rush’d, and hand to hand tumultuous closed - With pines and clashing spears. There fleet of hoof - The steeds were standing of stern-visaged Mars - In gold: and he himself, tearer of spoils, - Life-waster, purpled all with dropping blood, - As one who slew the living and despoil’d, - Loud-shouting to the warrior-infantry - There vaulted on his chariot. Him beside - Stood Fear and Consternation: high their hearts - Panted, all eager for the war of men. - There too Minerva rose, leader of hosts, - Resembling Pallas when she would array - The marshall’d battle. In her grasp the spear, - And on her brows a golden helm: athwart - Her shoulders thrown her ægis. Went she forth - In this array to meet the dreadful shout - Of war. And there a tuneful choir appear’d - Of heaven’s immortals: in the midst the son - Of Jove and of Latona sweetly rang - Upon his golden harp. Th’ Olympian mount, - Dwelling of gods, thrill’d back the broken sound. - And there were seen th’ assembly of the gods - Listening, encircled with their blaze of glory: - And in sweet contest with Apollo there - The virgins of Pieria raised the strain - Preluding; and they seem’d as though they sang - With clear sonorous voice. And there appear’d - A sheltering haven from the untamed rage - Of ocean. It was wrought of tin refined, - And rounded by the chisel: and it seem’d - Like to the dashing wave: and in the midst - Full many dolphins chased the fry, and show’d - As though they swam the waters, to and fro - Darting tumultuous. Two of silver scale, - Panting above the wave, the fishes mute - Gorged, that beneath them shook their quivering fins - In brass: but on the crag a fisher sate - Observant: in his grasp he held a net, - Like one that, poising, rises to the throw. - There was the horseman, fair-hair’d Danaë’s son, - Perseus: nor yet the buckler with his feet - Touch’d, nor yet distant hover’d: strange to think: - For nowhere on the surface of the shield - He rested: so the crippled artist-god - Illustrious framed him with his hands in gold. - Bound to his feet were sandals wing’d: a sword - Of brass with hilt of sable ebony - Hung round him from the shoulders by a thong: - Swift e’en as thought he flew. The visage grim - Of monstrous Gorgon all his back o’erspread: - And wrought in silver, wondrous to behold, - A veil was drawn around it, whence in gold - Hung glittering fringes: and the dreadful helm - Of Pluto clasp’d the temples of the prince, - Shedding a night of darkness. Thus outstretch’d - In air, he seem’d like one to trembling flight - Betaken. Close behind the Gorgons twain - Of nameless terror unapproachable - Came rushing: eagerly they stretch’d their arms - To seize him: from the pallid adamant, - Audibly as they rush’d, the clattering shield - Clank’d with a sharp shrill sound. Two grisly snakes - Hung from their girdles, and with forking tongues - Lick’d their inflected jaws; and violent gnash’d - Their fangs fell glaring: from around their heads - Those Gorgons grim a flickering horror cast - Through the wide air. Above them warrior men - Waged battle, grasping weapons in their hands. - [261]Some from their city and their sires repell’d - Destruction: others hasten’d to destroy: - And many press’d the plain, but more still held - The combat. On the strong-constructed towers - Stood women, shrieking shrill, and rent their cheeks - In very life, by Vulcan’s glorious craft. - The elders hoar with age assembled stood - Without the gates, and to the blessed gods - Their hands uplifted, for their fighting sons - Fear-stricken. These again the combat held. - Behind them stood the Fates, of aspect black, - Grim, slaughter-breathing, stern, insatiable, - Gnashing their white fangs; and fierce conflict held - For those who fell. Each eager-thirsting sought - To quaff the sable blood. Whom first they snatch’d - Prostrate, or staggering with the fresh-made wound, - On him they struck their talons huge: the soul - Fled down th’ abyss, the horror-freezing gulf - Of Tartarus. They, glutted to the heart - With human gore, behind them cast the corse: - And back with hurrying rage they turn’d to seek - The throng of battle. And hard by there stood - Clotho and Lachesis; and Atropos, - Somewhat in years inferior: nor was she - A mighty goddess: yet those other Fates - Transcending, and in birth the elder far. - And all around one man in cruel strife - Were join’d: and on each other turn’d in wrath - Their glowing eyes: and mingling desperate hands - And talons mutual strove. [262]And near to them - Stood Misery: wan, ghastly, worn with woe: - Arid, and swoln of knees; with hunger’s pains - Faint-falling: from her lean hands long the nails - Out-grew: an ichor from her nostrils flow’d: - Blood from her cheeks distill’d to earth: with teeth - All wide disclosed in grinning agony - She stood: a cloud of dust her shoulders spread, - And her eyes ran with tears. But next arose - [263]A well-tower’d city, by seven golden gates - Enclosed, that fitted to their lintels hung: - There men in dances and in festive joys - Held revelry. Some on the smooth-wheel’d car - A virgin bride conducted: then burst forth - Aloud the marriage-song: and far and wide - Long splendours flash’d from many a quivering torch - Borne in the hands of slaves. Gay-blooming girls - Preceded, and the dancers follow’d blithe: - These with shrill pipe indenting the soft lip - Breathed melody, while broken echoes thrill’d - Around them: to the lyre with flying touch - Those led the love-enkindling dance. A group - Of youths was elsewhere imaged to the flute - Disporting: some in dances and in song, - In laughter others. To the minstrel’s flute - So pass’d they on; and the whole city seem’d - As fill’d with pomps, with dances, and with feasts. - Others again, without the city walls, - [264]Vaulted on steeds and madden’d for the goal. - [265]Others as husbandmen appear’d, and broke - With coulter the rich glebe, and gather’d up - Their tunics neatly girded. Next arose - A field thick-set with depth of corn: where some - With sickle reap’d the stalks, their speary heads - Bent, as weigh’d down with pods of swelling grain, - The fruits of Ceres. Others into bands - Gather’d, and threw upon the threshing-floor - The sheaves. And some again hard by were seen - Holding the vine-sickle, who clusters cut - From the ripe vines; which from the vintagers - Others in frails received, or bore away, - [266]In baskets thus up-piled, the cluster’d grapes, - Or black or pearly-white, cut from deep ranks - Of spreading vines, whose tendrils curling twined - In silver, heavy-foliaged: near them rose - The ranks of vines, by Vulcan’s curious craft - Figured in gold. The vines leaf-shaking curl’d - Round silver props. They therefore on their way - Pass’d jocund to one minstrel’s flageolet, - Burthen’d with grapes that blacken’d in the sun. - Some also trod the wine-press, and some quaff’d - The foaming must. But in another part - Were men who wrestled, or in gymnic fight - Wielded the cæstus. Elsewhere men of chase - Were taking the fleet hares. Two keen-tooth’d dogs - Bounded beside: these ardent in pursuit, - Those with like ardour doubling on their flight. - Next them were horsemen, who sore effort made - To win the prize of contest and hard toil. - High o’er the well-compacted chariots [267]hung - The charioteers: the rapid horses loosed - At their full stretch, and shook the floating reins. - Rebounding from the ground with many a shock - Flew clattering the firm cars, and creak’d aloud - The naves of the round wheels. They therefore toil’d - Endless: nor conquest yet at any time - Achiev’d they, but a doubtful strife maintain’d. - In the mid-course the prize, a tripod huge, - Was placed in open sight; and it was carved - In gold: the skilful Vulcan’s glorious craft. - Rounding the uttermost verge [268]the ocean flow’d - As in full swell of waters: and the shield - All-variegated with whole circle bound. - Swans of high-hovering wing there clamour’d shrill, - And many skimm’d the breasted surge: and nigh - Fishes were tossing in tumultuous leaps. - Sight marvellous e’en to thundering Jove: whose will - Bade Vulcan frame the buckler; vast and strong. - This fitting to his grasp the strong-nerved son - Of Jupiter now shook with ease: and swift - As from his father’s ægis-wielding arm - The bolted lightning darts, he vaulted sheer - Above the harness’d chariot at a bound - Into the seat: the hardy charioteer - Stood o’er the steeds from high, and guided strong - The crooked car. Now near to them approach’d - Pallas, the blue-eyed goddess, and address’d - These winged words in animating voice: - [269]“Race of the far-famed Lyngeus! both all-hail! - Now verily the ruler of the Blest, - E’en Jove, doth give you strength to spoil of life - Cygnus your foe, and strip his gorgeous arms. - But I will breathe a word within thine ear - In counsel, oh most mighty midst the strong! - Now soon as e’er from Cygnus thou hast reft - The sweets of life, there leave him: on that spot, - Him and his armour: but th’ approach of Mars, - Slayer of mortals, watch with wary eye: - And where thy glance discerns a part exposed, - Defenceless of the well-wrought buckler, strike! - With thy sharp point there wound him, and recede: - For know, thou art not fated to despoil - “The steeds and glorious armour of a god.” - Thus having said, the goddess all-divine, - Aye holding in her everlasting hands - Conquest and glory, rose into the car - Impetuous: to the war-steeds shouted fierce - The noble Ioläus: from the shout - They starting snatch’d the flying car, and hid - With dusty cloud the plain: for she herself, - The goddess azure-eyed, sent into them - Wild courage, clashing on her brandish’d shield: - Earth groan’d around. That moment with like pace - E’en as a flame or tempest came they on, - Cygnus the tamer of the steed, and Mars - Unsated with the roar of war. And now - The coursers mid-way met, and face to face - Neigh’d shrill: the broken echoes rang around. - Then him the first stern Hercules bespake. - “Oh soft of nature! why dost thou obstruct - The rapid steeds of men, who toils have proved - And hardships? Outward turn thy burnish’d car: - Pass outward from the track and yield the way: - For I to Trachys ride, of obstacle - Impatient: to the royal Ceyx: he - O’er Trachys rules in venerable power, - As needs not thee be told, who hast to wife - His blue-eyed daughter Themisthonöe: - Soft-one! for not from thee shall Mars himself - Inhibit death, if truly hand to hand - We wage the battle: and e’en this I say - That elsewhere, heretofore, himself has proved - My mighty spear: when on the sandy beach - Of Pylos ardour irrepressible - Of combat seized him, and to me opposed - He stood: but thrice, when stricken by my lance, - Earth propp’d his fall, and thrice his targe was cleft: - The fourth time urging on my utmost force - His ample shield I shattering rived, his thigh - Transpierced, and headlong in the dust he fell - Beneath my rushing spear: so there the weight - Of shame upon him fell midst those of heaven, - His gory trophies leaving to these hands.” - So said he: but in no wise to obey - Enter’d the thought of Cygnus the spear-skill’d: - Nor rein’d he back the chariot-whirling steeds. - Then truly from their close-compacted cars - Instant as thought they leap’d to earth: the son - Of kingly Mars, the son of mighty Jove. - Aside, though not remote, the charioteers - The coursers drove of flowing manes: but then - Beneath the trampling sound of rushing feet - The broad earth sounded hollow: and [270]as rocks - From some high mountain-top precipitate - Leap with a bound, and o’er each other whirl’d - Shock in the dizzying fall: and many an oak - Of lofty branch, pine-tree and poplar deep - Of root are crash’d beneath them, as their course - Rapidly rolls, till now they touch the plain; - So met these foes encountering, and so burst - Their mighty clamour. Echoing loud throughout - The city of the Myrmidons gave back - Their lifted voices, and Iolchos famed, - And Arne, and Anthea’s grass-girt walls, - And Helice. Thus with amazing shout - They join’d in battle: all-considering Jove - Then greatly thunder’d: from the clouds of heaven - [271]He cast forth dews of blood, and signal thus - Of onset gave to his high-daring son. - [272]As in the mountain thickets the wild boar, - Grim to behold, and arm’d with jutting fangs, - Now with his hunters meditates in wrath - The conflict, whetting his white tusks aslant: - Foam drops around his churning jaws; his eyes - Show like to glimmering fires, and o’er his neck - And roughen’d back he raises up erect - The starting bristles, from the chariot whirl’d - By steeds of war such leap’d the son of Jove. - ’Twas in that season when, on some green bough - High-perch’d, the dusky-wing’d cicada first - Shrill chants to man a summer note; his drink, - His balmy food, the vegetative dew: - The livelong day from early dawn he pours - His voice, what time the sun’s exhaustive heat - Fierce dries the frame: ’twas in that season when - The bristly ears of millet spring with grain - Which they in summer sow: when the crude grape - Faint reddens on the vine, which Bacchus gave - The joy or anguish of the race of men;— - E’en in that season join’d the war; and vast - The battle’s tumult rose into the heaven. - [273]As two grim lions for a roebuck slain - Wroth in contention rush, and them betwixt - The sound of roaring and of clashing teeth - Ariseth; or [274]as vultures, curved of beak, - Crooked of talon, on a steepy rock - Contest loud-screaming; if perchance below - Some mountain-pastur’d goat or forest-stag - Sleek press the plain; whom far the hunter youth - Pierced with fleet arrow from the bow-string shrill - Dismiss’d, and elsewhere wander’d, of the spot - Unknowing: they with keenest heed the prize - Mark, and in swooping rage each other tear - With bitterest conflict: so vociferous rush’d - The warriors on each other. Cygnus, then, - Aiming to slay the son of Jupiter - Unmatch’d in strength, against the buckler struck - His brazen lance, but through the metal plate - Broke not; the present of a god preserved. - On th’ other side he of Amphitryon named, - Strong Hercules, between the helm and shield - Drove his long spear; and underneath the chin - Through the bare neck smote violent and swift. - The murderous ashen beam at once the nerves - Twain of the neck cut sheer; for all the man - Drop’d, and his force went from him: down he fell - Headlong: [275]as falls a thunder-blasted oak, - Or sky-capt rock, riven by the lightning shaft - Of Jove, in smouldering smoke is hurl’d from high, - So fell he: and his brass-emblazon’d mail - Clatter’d around him. Jove’s firm-hearted son - Then left the corse, abandon’d where it lay: - But wary watch’d the mortal-slayer god - Approach, and view’d him o’er with terrible eyes - Stern-lowering. [276]As a lion, who has fall’n - Perchance on some stray beast, with griping claws - Intent, strips down the lacerated hide; - Drains instantaneous the sweet life, and gluts - E’en to the fill his gloomy heart with blood; - Green-eyed he glares in fierceness; with his tail - Lashes his shoulders and his swelling sides, - And with his feet tears up the ground; not one - Might dare to look upon him, nor advance - Nigh, with desire of conflict: such in truth - The war-insatiate Hercules to Mars - Stood in array, and gather’d in his soul - Prompt courage. But the other near approach’d, - Anguish’d at heart; and both encountering rush’d - With cries of battle. As when from high ridge - Of some hill-top abrupt, tumbles a crag - Precipitous, and sheer, a giddy space, - Bounds in a whirl and rolls impetuous down: - Shrill rings the vehement crash, till some steep clift - Obstructs: to this the mass is borne along; - This wedges it immoveable: e’en so - Destroyer Mars, bowing the chariot, rush’d, - Yelling vociferous with a shout: e’en so, - As utterance prompt, met Hercules the shock - And firm sustain’d. But Jove-born Pallas came - With darkening shield uplifted, and to Mars - Stood interposed: and scowling with her eyes - Tremendous, thus address’d her winged words: - “Mars! hold thy furious valour: stay those hands - In prowess inaccessible: for know - It is not lawful for thee to divest - Slain Hercules of these his gorgeous arms, - Bold-hearted son of Jove: but come; rest thou - From battle, nor oppose thyself to me.” - She said: nor yet persuaded aught the soul - Of Mars, the mighty of heart. With a great shout - He, brandishing his weapon like a flame, - Sprang rapid upon Hercules, in haste - To slay; and, for his slaughter’d son incensed, - With violent effort hurl’d his brazen spear - ’Gainst the capacious targe. The blue-eyed maid - [277]Stoop’d from the chariot, and the javelin’s force - Turn’d wide. Sore torment seiz’d the breast of Mars: - He bared his keen-edged falchion, and at once - Rush’d on the dauntless Hercules: but he, - The war-insatiate, as the God approach’d, - Beneath the well-wrought shield the thigh exposed - Wounded with all his strength, and thrusting rived - The shield’s large disk, and cleft it with his lance, - And in the middle-way threw him to earth - Prostrate. But Fear and Consternation swift - Urged nigh his well-wheel’d chariot: from the face - Of broad-track’d earth they raised him on the car - Variously framed: thence lash’d with scourge the steeds, - And bounding up the vast Olympus flew. - But now Alcmena’s son and his compeer, - The glorious Ioläus, having stripp’d - From Cygnus’ shoulders the fair armour’s spoil, - Retraced their way direct, and instant reach’d - The city Trachys with their fleet-hoof’d steeds: - While pass’d the goddess of the azure eyes - To great Olympus, and her father’s towers. - But Ceyx o’er the corse of Cygnus raised - A tomb. Innumerable people graced - His obsequies: both they who dwelt hard by - The city of the illustrious king, and they - Of Anthe, of Iolchos wide-renown’d, - Of Arne, of the Myrmidonian towers, - And Helice. So gather’d there around - A numerous people: honouring duteous thus - Ceyx, beloved of the blessed gods. - But [278]the huge mount and monumental stone - Anaurus, foaming high with wintry rains, - Swept from the sight away: Apollo this - Commanded: for that Cygnus ambush’d spoil’d - In violence the Delphic hecatombs. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[252] _In height surpass’d._] Aristotle observes that persons of small -stature may be elegantly and justly formed, but cannot be styled -beautiful, Ethics, iv. 7. Xenophon in his Cyropædia, ii. 5, describes -the beautiful Panthea as “of surpassing height and vigour.” Theocritus -mentions a fulness of form as equally characteristic of beauty: - - So bloom’d the charming Helen in our eyes - With full voluptuous limbs and towering size: - In shape, in height, in stately presence fair, - Straight as a furrow gliding from the share: - A cypress of the gardens, spiring high, - A courser in the cars of Thessaly. - - Idyl, xviii. - -It is remarkable that Chaucer appears to glance at this comparison: - - Winsing she was, as is a jollie colt, - Long as a maste and upright as a bolt. - - _The Miller’s Tale._ - -[253] - - _From the darkening lashes of her eyes_ - _She breathed enamouring odour._] - -I am satisfied that this is to be taken in a literal, not in a -metaphysical or poetic sense. Nearly all the Greek female epithets -had a reference to some artificial mode of heightening the personal -allurements: as _rosy-fingered_; _rosy-elbowed_: I think κυανεαων, -_black_, is an epithet of the same cast: and alludes to the darkening of -the eye-lid by the rim drawn round it with a needle dipped in antimonial -oil. “The eye-lashes breathing of Venus,” has a palpable connexion with -this. Athenæus, xv. describes the several unguents for the hair, breast, -and arms, which were in use among the Greeks, as impregnated with the -odour of rose, myrtle, or crocus. The oily dye employed by the women to -blacken their eye-brows and eye-lashes was doubtless perfumed in the same -manner. Virgil probably had in his mind the perfumed hair of a Roman -lady, when he described the tresses of Venus breathing ambrosia, Æn. i. -402: - - She spoke and turn’d: her neck averted shed - A light that glow’d ‘celestial rosy red:’ - The locks that loosen’d from her temples flew - Breathing heaven’s odours, dropp’d ambrosial dew. - -[254] _Those herds, the cause of strife._] The story commonly runs, -that the Taphians, and Teloboans, a lawless and piratical people, had -made an inroad into the territory of Argos, and carried off Electryon’s -herds: that in the pursuit a battle took place, and the robbers killed -the brothers of Alcmena: and Amphitryon himself accidentally killed -Electryon. But it should appear from Hesiod that he killed him by design -on some provocation or dispute. - -[255] _The wall of Thebes._] Noah was directed in express terms to build -Thiba, an ark: it is the very word made use of by the sacred writer. Many -colonies that went abroad styled themselves Thebeans, in reference to the -ark: as the memory of the deluge was held very sacred. Hence there occur -many cities of the name of Theba, not in Ægypt only and Bœotia, but in -Cilicia, Ionia, Attica, &c. It was sometimes expressed Thiba; a town of -which name was in Pontus: it is called Thibis by Pliny; and he mentions a -notion which prevailed, that the people of this place could not sink in -water. BRYANT. - -[256] _Bull-visaged Neptune._] The patriarch was esteemed the great deity -of the sea: and at the same time was represented under the semblance of -a bull, or with the head of that animal: and as all rivers were looked -upon as the children of the ocean, they likewise were represented in the -same manner. BRYANT. - -This seems to have been a double emblem: referring to the bull Apis, the -representative of the father of husbandry, Osiris, and to the roaring of -waters. - -[257] _Mingled metal._] Ηλεκτρον is not _amber_, but a mixed metal: which -Pliny describes as consisting of three parts gold, and the fourth silver. -_Electrum_ is one of the materials in the Shield of Æneas, Æn. viii.: - - And mingled metals damask’d o’er with gold. - - PITT. - -[258] _Pursuit was there._] Homer, Il. vi. 5: - - She charged her shoulder with the dreadful Shield, - The shaggy Ægis, border’d thick around - With Terror: there was Discord, Prowess there, - There hot Pursuit. - There Discord raged, there Tumult, and the force - Of ruthless Destiny. She now a chief - Seiz’d newly wounded, and now captive held - Another yet unhurt, and now a third - Dragg’d breathless through the battle by his feet: - And all her garb was dappled thick with blood. - Like living men they travers’d and they strove, - And dragg’d by turns the bodies of the slain. - - COWPER, book xviii. Shield of Achilles. - -[259] _Herds of boars._] That animal (the wild boar) was no less terrible -on the opposite coast of Asia than in Greece: as we learn from Herodotus, -book i. c. 34. GILLIES. - -[260] _The battle of the Lapithæ._] This forms the subject of the -_alto-relievo_ on the entablature of the Parthenon, or the temple of -Minerva: ascribed to Phidias. See the “Memorandum” on the Elgin marbles. - -[261] _Some from their city._] Homer, Il. book xvii. Shield of Achilles: - - The other city by two glittering hosts - Invested stood: and a dispute arose - Between the hosts, whether to burn the town - And lay all waste, or to divide the spoil. - Meantime the citizens, still undismay’d, - Surrender’d not the town, but taking arms - Prepared an ambush; and the wives and boys, - With all the hoary elders, kept the walls. - - COWPER. - -[262] - - _And near to them_ - _Stood Misery._] - -Warton observes, History of English poetry, vol. i. p. 468: “The French -and Italian poets, whom Chaucer imitates, abound in allegorical -personages: and it is remarkable that the early poets of Greece and Rome -were fond of these creations: we have in Hesiod ‘Darkness:’ and many -others; if the Shield of Hercules be of his hand.” But it seems to have -escaped the writer that it is not literal, but figurative Darkness which -is personified. Guietus ingeniously supposes that it is meant for the -dimness of death. Homer, indeed, applies to this the same term: in the -death of Eurymachus, Od. xxii. 88: - - Κατ’ οφθαλμων δ’ εχυτ’ ΑΧΛΥΣ. - - A darkening mist was pour’d upon his eyes. - -Tanaquil Faber, on Longinus, contends that αχλυς is here Sorrow. Sorrow -is personified in a fragment of Ennius: - - Omnibus endo locis ingens apparet imago - Tristitia. - - Sorrow, a giant form, uprears the head - In every place. - -This is adopted by Grævius and Robinson. In like manner φως its opposite, -light, is often used for χαρα, joy: as appears in the oriental style of -scripture. But they have omitted to notice that this is a _specific_ -sorrow: for what connexion have these horrible symptoms with sorrow in -general? I conceive that the prosopopœia describes the misery attendant -on war: and especially in a city besieged, with its usual accompaniments -of famine, blood, and tears, and the dust or ashes of mourning. Longinus -selects the line “an ichor from her nostrils flowed,” as an instance of -the false sublime; and compares it with Homer’s verse on Discord, - - Treading on earth, her forehead touches heaven. - -This is to compare two things totally unlike: why should an image of -exhaustion and disease be thought to aim at sublimity? The objection of -Longinus that it tends to excite disgust rather than terror is nugatory. -The poet did not intend to excite terror, but horror: that kind of horror -which arises from the contemplation of physical suffering. - -[263] _A well-tower’d city._] Homer, Il. book xviii. Shield of Achilles: - - Two splendid cities also there he form’d - Such as men build: in one were to be seen - Rites matrimonial solemnized with pomp - Of sumptuous banquets. Forth they led the brides - Each from her chamber, and along the streets - With torches usher’d them: and with the voice - Of hymeneal song heard all around. - Here striplings danced in circles to the sound - Of pipe and harp; while in the portals stood - Women, admiring all the gallant show. - - COWPER. - -[264] _Vaulted on steeds._] This circumstance has been thought to -betray a later age: as it is alleged, that the only instance of riding -on horseback mentioned by Homer is that of Diomed, who, with Ulysses, -rides the horses of Rhesus of which he has made prize. But though -chariot-horses only are found in the Homeric battles, there is an -allusion to horsemanship, as an exhibition of skill, in a simile of the -15th book of the Iliad, v. 679; where the rider is described as riding -four horses at once, and vaulting from one to the other. - -[265] _Others as husbandmen appear’d._] Homer Il. xviii. Shield of -Achilles: - - He also graved on it a fallow field - Rich, spacious, and well-till’d. Plowers not few - There driving to and fro their sturdy teams - Labour’d the ground. - There too he form’d the likeness of a field - Crowded with corn: in which the reapers toil’d - Each with a sharp-tooth’d sickle in his hand. - Along the furrow here the harvest fell - In frequent handfuls: there they bound the sheaves. - - COWPER. - -[266] _In baskets thus up-piled._] Homer Il. xviii. Shield of Achilles: - - There also, laden with its fruit, he form’d - A vineyard all of gold: purple he made - The clusters: and the vines supported stood - By poles of silver, set in even rows. - The trench he colour’d sable, and around - Fenced it with tin. One only path it show’d: - By which the gatherers, when they stripp’d the vines, - Pass’d and repass’d. There youths and maidens blithe - In frails of wicker bore the luscious fruit; - While in the midst a boy on his shrill harp - Harmonious play’d: and ever as he struck - The chord, sang to it with a slender voice. - They smote the ground together, and with song - And sprightly reed came dancing on behind. - - COWPER. - -[267] - - _Hung_ - _The charioteers._] - -This may be compared with the chariot-race at the funeral games of -Patroclus, in the Iliad, xxiii. 362, to which, however, it is very -inferior. - - All raised the lash together; with the reins - All smote their steeds, and urged them to the strife - Vociferating: they with rapid pace - Scouring the field soon left the fleet afar. - Dark, like a stormy cloud, uprose the dust - Beneath them, and their undulating manes - Play’d in the breezes: now the level field - With gliding course, the rugged now they pass’d - With bounding wheels aloft: meantime erect - The drivers stood: with palpitating heart - Each sought the prize: each urged his steeds aloud; - They, flying, fill’d with dust the darken’d air. - - COWPER. - -This description apparently suggested to Virgil the chariot-race in the -Georgics iii. 402, which Dryden has rendered with all the fire of the -original. - -[268] _The ocean flow’d._] Homer, Il. xviii. Shield of Achilles: - - Last with the might of ocean’s boundless flood - He fill’d the border of the wondrous shield. - - COWPER. - -[269] _Race of the far-famed Lyngeus._] Lyngeus was the ancestor of -Perseus, the son of Danaë, and the father of Alcæus: of whom Amphitryon -was the son. - -[270] - - _As rocks_ - _From some high mountain-top._] - -Homer, Il. book xiii. - - Then Hector led himself - Right on: impetuous as a rolling rock - Destructive: torn by torrent waters off - From its old lodgment on the mountain’s brow, - It bounds, it shoots away: the crashing wood - Falls under it: impediment or check - None stays its fury, till the level found - At last, there overcome it rolls no more. - - COWPER. - -[271] _He cast forth dews of blood._] Iliad, xvi, 459. Death of Sarpedon: - - The Sire of gods and men - Dissented not: but on the earth distill’d - A sanguine shower, in honour of a son - Dear to him. - - COWPER. - -[272] _As in the mountain thickets._] Homer, Iliad xiii. - - As in the mountains, conscious of his force, - The wild boar waits a coming multitude - Of boisterous hunters to his lone retreat: - Arching his bristly spine he stands: his eyes - Beam fire: and whetting his bright tusks, he burns - To drive not dogs alone, but men, to flight: - So stood the royal Cretan. - - COWPER. - -[273] _As two grim lions._] Iliad xvi.: - - Then contest such - Arose between them, as two lions wage - Contending in the mountains for a deer - New-slain: both hunger-pinched, and haughty both. - - COWPER. - -[274] _As vultures curved of beak._] Iliad xvi.: - - As two vultures fight - Bow-beak’d, crook-talon’d, on some lofty rock - Clanging their plumes, so they together rush - With dreadful cries. - - COWPER. - -[275] _As falls a thunder-blasted oak._] Iliad xiv.: - - As when Jove’s arm omnipotent an oak - Prostrates uprooted on the plain: a fume - Rises sulphureous from the riven trunk; - So fell the might of Hector, to the earth - Smitten at once. Down dropp’d his idle spear, - And with his helmet and his shield, himself - Also: loud thunder’d all his gorgeous arms. - - COWPER. - -[276] - - _As a lion, who has fall’n_ - _Perchance on some stray beast._] - -Iliad xvii.: - - But as the lion on the mountains bred - Glorious in strength, when he hath seiz’d the best - And fairest of the herd, with savage fangs - First breaks the neck, then laps the bloody paunch, - Torn wide: meantime around him, but remote, - Dogs stand, and huntsmen shouting, yet by fear - Repress’d, annoy him not, nor dare approach; - So these all wanted courage to oppose - The glorious Menelaus. - - COWPER. - -[277] _Stoop’d from the chariot._] Iliad v.: - - When with determin’d fury Mars - O’er yoke and bridle hurl’d his glittering spear: - Minerva caught: and turning it, it pass’d - The hero’s chariot-side, dismiss’d in vain. - - COWPER. - -[278] _The huge mount and monumental stone._] By the words _tomb_ and -_monument_, ταφος and σημα, I understand a mount of earth and a pillar of -stone on the top of it: although Homer Il. xxiv. v. 801, applies σημα to -the mount: which he seems to describe as raised of stones: - - Χευαντες δε το σημα, παλιν κιον. - - So casting up the tomb, they back return’d. - - - - -Appendix. - - -BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. - -George Chapman was born in 1557. Wood, in the Athenæ Oxonienses, imagines -that he was a sworn servant either to James the First or his queen; -and says that he was highly valued; but not so much as Ben Jonson: “a -person of most reverend aspect, religious and temperate, qualities rarely -meeting in a poet.” After living to the age of 77 years he died on the -12th day of May 1634, in the parish of St. Giles’s in the Fields, and -was buried there on the south side of the church-yard. His friend Inigo -Jones erected a monument to his memory. Of his[279] translation of Homer, -Dryden tells us that Waller used to say he never could read it without -incredible transport. Besides other translations and poems, he was the -author of 17 dramatic pieces.—See _Dodsley’s Collections of Old Plays_, -vol. iv. - -His version of “The Georgicks of Hesiod” is inscribed in an _Epistle -Dedicatorie_ to “The most noble Combiner of Learning and Honour Sir -Francis Bacon, Knight; Lord High Chancellor of England, &c.” and prefixed -are two copies of commendatory verses with the signatures of Michael -Drayton, and Ben Jonson. - -This version is generally faithful both to the sense and spirit of the -author. Amidst much quaintness of style and ruggedness of numbers, we -meet with gleams of a rich expression and with a grasp of language, -which, however extravagantly bold, bears the stamp of a genuine poet. -Cooke had probably not seen this translation, or he must have avoided -many of the errors into which he fell. - - -SPECIMENS OF CHAPMAN’S HESIOD. - -WITH GLOSSARIAL AND CRITICAL EXPLANATIONS. - - -I. - - Thus to him began - The Cloud-Assembler: Thou most crafty Man, - That ioy’st to steale my fire, deceiuing Me, - Shalte feele that Ioy the greater griefe to thee; - And therein plague thy vniuersall Race: - To whom Ile giue a pleasing ill, in place - Of that good fire: And all shall be so vaine - To place their pleasure in embracing paine. - Thus spake, and laught, of Gods and Men the Sire; - And straight enioyn’d the famous God of fire - To mingle instantly, with Water, Earth; - The voyce, and vigor, of a humane Birth - Imposing in it; And so faire a face, - As matcht th’ Immortall Goddesses in grace: - Her forme presenting a most louely Maid: - Then on _Minerua_ his Command he laid, - To make her worke, and wield the wittie loome: - And (for her Beauty) such as might become - The Golden _Venus_, He commanded Her - Vpon her Browes and Countenance to conferre - Her own Bewitchings: stuffing all her Breast - With wilde Desires, incapable of Rest; - And Cares, [280] that feed to all satiety - All human Lineaments. The Crafty spy, - And Messenger of Godheads, _Mercury_ - He charg’d t’ informe her with a dogged Minde, - And theeuish Manners. All as he design’d - Was put in act. A Creature straight had frame - Like to a Virgine; Milde and full of Shame: - Which Ioue’s Suggestion made the [281]both-foot lame - Forme so deceitfully; And all of Earth - To forge the liuing Matter of her Birth. - Gray-ey’d _Minerua_ Put her Girdle on; - And show’d how loose parts, wel-composed, shone. - The deified Graces, And [282]the Dame that sets - Sweet words in chiefe forme, Golden [283]Carquenets - Embrac’d her Neck withall; the faire-haird Howers - Her gracious Temples crown’d, with fresh spring-flowers; - But all of these, imploy’d in seuerall place, - _Pallas_ gaue Order; the impulsiue grace. - Her bosome, _Hermes_, the great God of spies, - With subtle fashions fill’d; faire words and lies; - _Ioue_ prompting still. But all the voyce she vs’d - The vocall Herald of the Gods infus’d; - And call’d her name _Pandora_; Since on Her - The Gods did all their seuerall gifts confer: - Who made her such, in euery moouing straine, - To be the Bane of curious Minded Men. - - -II. - - When therefore first fit plow time doth disclose; - Put on with spirit; All, as one, dispose - Thy Servants and thy selfe: plow wet and drie; - And when _Aurora_ first affords her eye - In Spring-time turn the earth vp; which see done - Againe, past all faile, by the Summers Sunne. - Hasten thy labours, that thy crowned fields - May load themselues to thee, and [284]rack their yeelds. - The Tilth-field sowe, on Earth’s most light foundations; - The Tilth-field, banisher of execrations, - Pleaser of Sonnes and Daughters: which t’ improve - With all wisht profits, pray to earthly _Ioue_, - And vertuous _Ceres_; that on all such suits - Her sacred gift bestowes, in blessing fruits. - When first thou enterst foot to plow thy land, - And on thy plow-staffe’s top hast laid thy hand; - Thy Oxens backs that next thee by a Chaine - Thy Oken draught-Tree drawe, put to the paine - Thy Goad imposes. And thy Boy behinde, - That with his Iron Rake thou hast design’d, - To hide thy seed, Let from his labour drive - The Birds, that offer on thy sweat to liue. - The best thing, that in humane Needs doth fall, - Is _Industry_; and _Sloath_ the worst of all. - With one thy Corne ears shall with fruit abound; - And bow their thankfull forheads to the ground; - With th’ other, scarce thy seed again redound. - - -III. - - But if thou shouldst sow late, this well may be - In all thy Slacknesse an excuse for thee: - When, in the Oakes greene arms the Cuckoe sings, - And first delights Men in the louely springs; - If much raine fall, ’tis fit then to defer - Thy sowing worke. But how much raine to beare, - And [285]let no labour, to that Much give eare: - Past intermission let _Ioue_ steepe the grasse - Three daies together, so he do not passe - An Oxes hoofe in depth; and neuer [286]stay - To strowe thy seed in: (but if deeper way - _Ioue_ with his raine makes; then forbeare the field;) - For late sowne then will [287]past the formost yield. - Minde well all this, nor let it fly thy powrs - To knowe what fits the white spring’s early flowrs; - Nor when raines timely fall: Nor when sharp colde, - In winter’s wrath, doth men from worke withholde, - Sit by Smiths forges, nor warme tauernes hant; - Nor let the bitterest of the season dant - Thy thrift-arm’d [288]paines, [289]like idle Pouertie; - For then the time is when th’ industrious [290]Thie - Vpholdes, with all increase, his Familie: - With whose [291]rich hardness spirited, do thou - [292]Poor Delicacie flie; lest frost and snowe - [293]Fled for her loue, Hunger [294]sit both them out, - And make thee, with the beggar’s lazie gout - Sit stooping to the paine, still pointing too’t, - And with a leane hand stroke a [295]foggie foot. - - -IV. - - When aire’s chill North his noisome frosts shall blowe - All ouer earth, and all the wide sea throwe - At Heauen in hills, from colde horse-breeding Thrace; - The beaten earth, and all her Syluane race - Roring and bellowing with his bitter strokes; - [296]Plumps of thick firre-trees and high crested-Okes - Torne up in vallies; [297]all _Aire’s_ floud let flie - In him, at Earth; [298] sad nurse of all that die. - Wilde beasts abhor him; and run clapping close - Their sterns betwixt their thighs; and euen all those - Whose hides their fleeces line with highest proofe; - Euen Oxe-hides also want expulsive stuffe, - And bristled goates, against his bitter gale: - He blowes so colde, he beates quite through them all. - Onely with silly sheep it fares not so; - For they each summer [299]fleec’t, their [300]fells so growe, - [301]They shield all winter crusht into his winde. - He makes the olde Man trudge for life, to finde - Shelter against him; but he cannot blast - The tender and the delicately grac’t - Flesh of the virgin; she is kept within, - Close by her mother, careful of her skin: - [302]Since yet she neuer knew how to enfolde - The force of _Venus_ [303]swimming all in golde. - Whose Snowie bosome choicely washt and balm’d - With wealthy oiles, she keepes the house becalm’d, - All winter’s spight; when in his fire-lesse shed - And miserable roofe still hiding head, - The bonelesse fish doth eat his feet for colde: - To whom the Sunne doth neuer food vnfolde; - But turnes aboue the blacke Mens populous towrs, - On whom he more bestowes his radiant howres - That on th’ _Hellenians_: then all Beasts of horne, - And smooth-brow’d, that in beds of wood are borne, - About the Oken dales that North-winde flie, - Gnashing their teeth with restlesse miserie; - And euerywhere that [304]Care solicits all, - That ([305]out of shelter) to their Couerts fall, - And Cauerns eaten into Rocks; and then - Those wilde Beasts shrink, like tame three-footed Men, - Whose backs are broke with age, and forheads driu’n - To stoope to Earth, though borne to looke on Heav’n. - Euen like to these, Those tough-bred rude ones goe, - Flying the white drifts of the Northerne Snowe. - - -V. - - But then betake thee to the shade that lies - In shield of Rocks; drinke Biblian wine, and eate - The creamy wafer: Gotes milke, that the Teate - Giues newly free, and nurses Kids no more: - Flesh of Bow-brousing Beeues, that neuer bore, - And tender kids. And to these, taste black wine, - The third part water, of the Crystaline - Still flowing fount, that feeds a streame beneath; - And sit in shades, where temperate gales may breath - On thy oppos’d cheeks. When _Orion’s_ raies - His influence, in first ascent, assaies, - Then to thy labouring Seruants giue command, - [306]To dight the sacred gift of _Ceres_ hand, - In some place windie, on a [307]well-planed floore; - Which, all by measure, into Vessels poure; - Make then thy Man-swaine, one that hath no house; - Thy handmaid one, that hath nor child nor spouse; - Handmaids, that children have, are rauenous. - A Mastiffe likewise, nourish still at home; - Whose teeth are sharp, and close as any Combe; - And meat him well, to keep with stronger guard - The Day-sleep-wake-Night Man from forth thy yard: - That else thy Goods into his Caues will beare: - [308]Inne Hay and Chaffe enough for all the yeare, - To serve thy Oxen and thy Mules; and then - Loose them: and ease [309]the dear knees of thy Men. - - -VI. - - If of a Chance-complaining Man at seas - The humor take thee; when the _Pleiades_ - Hide head, and flie the fierce _Orion’s_ chace, - And the darke-deep _Oceanus_ embrace; - Then diuerse Gusts of violent winds arise; - And then attempt no Nauall enterprize. - But ply thy Land affaires, and draw ashore - Thy Ship; and fence her round with stonage store - To shield her Ribs against the [310]humorous Gales; - Her Pump exhausted, lest _Ioue’s_ rainie falls - Breed putrefaction. All tooles fit for her, - And all her tacklings, to thy House confer: - Contracting orderly all needfull things - That imp a water-treading Vessel’s wings; - Her well-wrought Sterne hang in the smoke at home, - Attending time, till fit Sea Seasons come.— - When thy vaine Minde then would Sea-ventures try, - [311]In loue the Land-Rocks of loath’d Debt to fly, - And Hunger’s euer-harsh-to-hear-of cry: - Ile set before thee all the Trim and Dresse - Of those still-roaring-noise-resounding Seas: - Though neither skild in either Ship or Saile - Nor euer was at Sea; Or, lest I faile, - But for _Eubœa_ once; from _Aulis_ where - The Greeks, with Tempest driuen, for shore did stere - Their mighty Nauie, gatherd to employ - For sacred Greece gainst faire-dame-breeding Troy. - To Chalcis there I made by Sea my passe; - And to the Games of great _Amphidamas_; - Where many a fore-studied Exercise - Was instituted with excitefull prise - For great-and-good, and able-minded Men; - And where I wonne, at the _Pierian_ Pen, - A three-ear’d _Tripod_, which I offer’d on - The _Altars_ of the Maids of _Helicon_. - Where first their loues initiated me - In skill of their unworldly Harmony. - But no more practise have my trauailes [312]swet, - In many-a-naile-composed ships; and yet - Ile sing what _Ioue’s_ Minde will suggest in mine - Whose daughters taught my verse the rage diuine. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[279] Granger, in his biographical history of England, speaks slightingly -of Chapman’s Homer on Pope’s authority. Pope singularly explains what he -considers as the defects of this translation, by saying that “the nature -of the man may account for his whole performance: as he appears to have -been of an arrogant turn, and _an enthusiast in poetry_.” A strange -disqualification! He confesses, also, that “what very much contributed -to cover his defects, is a daring fiery spirit that animates his -translation: which is something like what one might imagine Homer himself -would have written before he arrived at years of discretion.” PREFACE TO -HOMER. - -Mr. Godwin, in his “Lives of Edward and John Philips, nephews of Milton,” -has illustrated the natural energy of style in Chapman’s Homer with -critical taste and just feeling. Chap. x. p. 243. - -[280] Feed _upon_ or emaciate the features by dissipated excess. - -[281] Vulcan. - -[282] Persuasion. - -[283] Necklaces; from Carquan, Fr. or Carcan. _Dict. de l’Ac. Fr._ - - Threading a _carkanet_ of pure round pearl. - - Sir W. Davenant. The Wits, a comedy. - -[284] _To rack_ here means to _give what is exacted_; yeelds is -_yieldings_, produce. - -[285] Hinder. - -[286] Hesitate. - -[287] Beyond that which was sown first. - -[288] Exertions. - -[289] So much as. - -[290] The Man of Thrift. Thie in the old Saxon is thrift. - -[291] Animated with whose hardihood in braving the season for the sake of -wealth. - -[292] Slothful averseness to meet the rigour of the season, of which the -consequence is poverty. - -[293] Avoided through love of delicacy; or slothful indulgence. - -[294] Remain unemployed; sit starving in idleness as long as the frost -and snow endure. - -[295] Thick, swollen. - -[296] Clusters. - -[297] The whole deluge of air being let loose in him, the (north-wind) on -the surface of earth. - -[298] In the original, _many-nourishing_. Chapman has elsewhere more -faithfully the same epithet “_many-a-creature-nourishing_ earth.” - -[299] Being sheared. - -[300] Skins. - -[301] They keep out the whole force of the winter, which is concentrated -in his (the winter’s) wind. - -[302] She was of too tender an age to sustain the bridal embrace. - -[303] A Grecism: swimming _in beauty_: in the Greek, _many-golden_ Venus: -abounding with charms. - -[304] The care of seeking shelter. - -[305] Being in need of shelter. - -[306] To _dress_, or prepare by thrashing. - -[307] Well-smooth’d or levell’d. - -[308] Stow in. - -[309] A Grecism: _Dear_ in Greek being synonymous with _his_, _hers_, -_their_: and in this instance an expletive. - -[310] Humid. - -[311] With the wish or desire. - -[312] Sweated _through_; toiled through. - - -THE END. - -C. Baldwin, Printer, New Bridge-street. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Remains of Hesiod the Ascræan</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0;'>Including the Shield of Hercules</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Charles Abraham Elton</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 20, 2021 [eBook #66350]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Sonya Schermann and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REMAINS OF HESIOD THE ASCRÆAN ***</div> - -<h1>THE REMAINS OF HESIOD THE ASCRÆAN</h1> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_i"></a>[i]</span></p> - -<p class="titlepage">THE REMAINS<br /> -<span class="smaller">OF</span><br /> -<span class="larger">HESIOD THE ASCRÆAN</span><br /> -<span class="smaller">INCLUDING</span><br /> -<span class="larger gothic">The Shield of Hercules,</span><br /> -<span class="smaller"><i>TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH RHYME AND BLANK VERSE</i>;<br /> -WITH</span><br /> -A DISSERTATION<br /> -<span class="smaller">ON THE</span><br /> -LIFE AND ÆRA, THE POEMS AND MYTHOLOGY,<br /> -<span class="smaller">OF</span><br /> -<span class="larger">HESIOD,</span><br /> -<i>AND COPIOUS NOTES</i>.</p> - -<p class="titlepage">THE SECOND EDITION,<br /> -<span class="smaller"><i>REVISED AND ENLARGED</i></span></p> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br /> -CHARLES ABRAHAM ELTON,<br /> -<span class="smaller">AUTHOR OF SPECIMENS OF THE CLASSIC POETS FROM HOMER TO TRYPHIODORUS.</span></p> - -<p class="titlepage">Ὡ πρέσβυς καθαρῶν γευσάμενος λιβάδον.—ΑΛΚΑΙΟΣ.</p> - -<p class="center"><i>LONDON</i>:<br /> -<span class="smaller">PRINTED FOR BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY,<br /> -47 PATERNOSTER-ROW.</span><br /> -1815.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ii"></a>[ii]</span></p> - -<p class="center">C. Baldwin, Printer,<br /> -New Bridge street, London.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iii"></a>[iii]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</h2> - -</div> - -<p>The remains of Hesiod are not alone interesting to -the antiquary, as tracing a picture of the rude arts -and manners of the ancient Greeks. His sublime -philosophic allegories; his elevated views of a retributive -Providence; and the romantic elegance, or -daring grandeur, with which he has invested the -legends of his mythology, offer more solid reasons -than the accident of coeval existence for the traditional -association of his name with that of Homer.</p> - -<p>Hesiod has been translated in Latin hexameters -by Nicolaus Valla, and by Bernardo Zamagna. A -French translation by Jacques le Gras bears date -1586. The earliest essay on his poems by our own -countrymen appears in the old racy version of “The -Works and Days,” by George Chapman, the translator -of Homer, published in 1618. It is so scarce that -Warton in “The History of English Poetry” doubts<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iv"></a>[iv]</span> -its existence. Some specimens of a work equally curious -from its rareness, and interesting as an example -of our ancient poetry, are appended to this translation. -Parnell has given a sprightly imitation of the Pandora, -under the title of “Hesiod, or the Rise of -Woman:” and Broome, the coadjutor of Pope in -the Odyssey, has paraphrased the battle of the Titans -and the Tartarus.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The translation by Thomas -Cooke omits the splendid heroical fragment of “The -Shield,” which I have restored to its legitimate connexion. -It was first published in 1728; reprinted in -1740; and has been inserted in the collections of -Anderson and Chalmers.</p> - -<p>This translator obtained from his contemporaries the -name of “Hesiod Cooke.” He was thought a good -Grecian; and translated against Pope the episode of -Thersites, in the Iliad, with some success; which -procured him a place in the Dunciad:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Be thine, my stationer, this magic gift,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cooke shall be Prior, and Concanen Swift:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">and a passage in “The Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v"></a>[v]</span> -seems pointed more directly at the affront of the -Thersites:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">From these the world shall judge of men and books,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not from the Burnets, Oldmixons, and Cookes.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Satire, however, is not evidence: and neither these -distichs, nor the sour notes of Pope’s obsequious -commentator, are sufficient to prove, that Cooke, any -more than Theobald and many others, deserved, -either as an author or a man, to be ranked with -dunces. A biographical account of him, with extracts -from his common-place books, was communicated -by Sir Joseph Mawby to the Gentleman’s Magazine: -vol. 61, 62. His edition of Andrew Marvell’s -works procured him the patronage of the Earl -of Pembroke: he was also a writer in the Craftsman. -Johnson has told (Boswell’s Tour to the Hebrides, -p. 25.) that “Cooke lived twenty years on a translation -of Plautus: for which he was always taking -subscriptions.” The Amphitryon was, however, actually -published.</p> - -<p>With respect to Hesiod, either Cooke’s knowledge -of Greek was in reality superficial, or his indolence -counteracted his abilities; for his blunders are inexcusably<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi"></a>[vi]</span> -frequent and unaccountably gross: not in -matters of mere verbal nicety, but in several important -particulars: nor are these instances, which tend -so perpetually to mislead the reader, compensated by -the force or beauty of his style; which, notwithstanding -some few unaffected and emphatical lines, is, in -its general effect, tame and grovelling. These errors -I had thought it necessary to point out in the notes -to my first edition; as a justification of my own attempt -to supply what I considered as still a desideratum -in our literature. The criticisms are now rescinded; -as their object has been misconstrued into -a design of raising myself by depreciating my predecessor.</p> - -<p>Some remarks of the different writers in the reviews -appear to call for reply.</p> - -<p>The Edinburgh Reviewer objects, as an instance of -defective translation, to my version of αιδως ουκ’ αγαυη: -which he says is improperly rendered “shame”: -“whereas it rather means that diffidence and want of -enterprise which unfits men from improving their -fortune. In this sense it is opposed by Hesiod to -θαρσος, an active and courageous spirit.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii"></a>[vii]</span></p> - -<p>But the Edinburgh Reviewer is certainly mistaken. -If αιδως is to be taken in this limited sense, what can -be the meaning of the line</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Αιδως η τ’ ανδρας μεγα σινεται ηδ’ ονινησι.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Shame greatly hurts or greatly helps mankind?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">the proper antithesis is the αιδως αγαθη, alluded to in a -subsequent line,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Αιδω δε τ’ αναιδειη κατοπαζη.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And shamelessness expels the better shame.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">The good shame, which deters men from mean -actions, as the evil one depresses them from honest -enterprise.</p> - -<p>In my dissertation I had ventured to call in question -the judgment of commentators in exalting their -favourite author: and had doubted whether the meek -forgiving temper of Hesiod towards his brother, -whom he seldom honours with any better title than -“fool,” was very happily chosen as a theme for admiration. -On this the <i>old</i> Critical Reviewer exclaimed -“as if that, and various other gentle expressions, -for example <i>blockhead</i>, <i>goose-cap</i>, <i>dunderhead</i>, -were not frequently terms of endearment:” and -he added his suspicion that “like poor old Lear, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a>[viii]</span> -did not know the difference between a bitter fool and -a sweet one.”</p> - -<p>But, as the clown in Hamlet says, “’twill away -from me to you.” The critic is bound to prove, -1st, that νηπις is ever used in this playful sense; -which he has not attempted to do: 2dly, that it is -so used with the aggravating prefix of ΜΕΓΑ νηπιε: -3dly, that it is so used by Hesiod.</p> - -<p>Hector’s babe on the nurse’s bosom is described as -νηπιος; and Patroclus weeping is compared by Achilles -to κουρη νηπιη. These words may bear the senses of -“poor innocent;” and of “fond girl;” the former -is tender, the latter playful; but in both places the -word is usually understood in its primitive sense of -“infant.” Homer says of Andromache preparing a -bath for Hector,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Νηπιη! ουδ’ ενοησεν ο μιν μαλα τηλε λοετων</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Χερσιν Αχιλληος δαμασεν γλαυκωπις Αθηνη:</div> - <div class="verse right">Il. xxii.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Fond one! she knew not that the blue-eyed maid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had quell’d him, far from the refreshing bath,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath Achilles’ hand.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">But this is in commiseration: or would the critic -apply to Andromache the epithet of <i>goose-cap</i>? After<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix"></a>[ix]</span> -all, who in his senses would dream of singling out a -word from an author’s context, and delving in other -authors for a meaning? The question is, not how it -is used by other authors, but how it is used by Hesiod. -Till the Critic favours us with some proofs of Hesiod’s -namby-pamby tenderness towards the brother who -had cheated him of his patrimony, I beg to return -both the quotation and the <i>appellatives</i> upon his -hands.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<p>The London Reviewer censures my choice of blank-verse -as a medium for the ancient hexameter, on the -ground that the closing adonic is more fully represented -by the rounding rhyme of the couplet: but it -may be urged, that the flowing pause and continuous -period of the Homeric verse are more consonant -with our blank measure. In confining the latter to -dramatic poetry, as partaking of the character of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_x"></a>[x]</span> -Greek Iambics, he has overlooked the visible distinction -of structure in our dramatic and heroic blank -verse. With respect to the particular poem, I am -disposed to concede that the general details of the -Theogony might be improved by rhyme: but the more -interesting passages are not to be sacrificed to those -which cannot interest, be they versified how they -may: and as the critic seems to admit that a poem -whose action passes</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Beyond the flaming bounds of time and space”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">may be fitly clothed with blank numbers, by this -admission he gives up the argument as it affects the -Theogony.</p> - -<p>In disapproving of my illustration of Hesiod by -the Bryantian scheme of mythology, the London -Reviewer refers me for a refutation of this system to -Professor Richardson’s preface to his Arabic Dictionary; -where certain etymological combinations and -derivations are contested, which Mr. Bryant produces -as authorities in support of the adoration of the -Sun or of Fire. Mr. Richardson, however, premises -by acknowledging “the penetration and judgement -of the author of the Analytic System in the refutation -of vulgar errors, with the new and informing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi"></a>[xi]</span> -light in which he has placed a variety of ancient -facts:” and however formidable the professor’s criticisms -may be in this his peculiar province, it must -be remarked that a great part of “The New System” -rests on grounds independent of etymology; and is -supported by a mass of curious evidence collected -from the history, the rites, and monuments of ancient -nations: nor can I look upon the judgment of -that critic as infallible, who conceives the suspicious -silence of the Persic historians sufficient to set aside -the venerable testimony of Herodotus, and the proud -memorials and patriotic traditions of the free people -of Greece: and who resolves the invasion of Xerxes -into the petty piratical inroad of a Persian Satrap. -I conceive, also, with respect to the point in dispute, -that the professor’s confutation of certain etymological -positions is completely weakened in its intended -general effect, by his scepticism as to the universality -of a diluvian tradition. If we admit that the periodical -overflowings of the Nile might have given -rise to superstitious observances and processions in -Ægypt; and even that the sudden inundations of the -Euphrates and the Tigris might have caused the institution -of similar memorials in Babylonia, how are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xii"></a>[xii]</span> -we to account for Greece, and India, and America, -each visited by a destructive inundation, and each -perpetuating its remembrance by poetical legends or -emblematical sculptures? Surely a most incredible -supposition. Nor is this all; for we find an agreement -not merely of a flood, but of persons preserved -from a flood; and preserved in a remarkable manner; -by inclosure in a vessel, or the hollow trunk of a tree. -How is it possible to solve coincidences of so minute -and specific a nature<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> by casual inundations, with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiii"></a>[xiii]</span> -Mr. Richardson, or, with Dr. Gillies, by the natural -proneness of the human mind to the weaknesses and -terrors of superstition?</p> - -<p>As to my choice of the Analytic System for the -purpose of illustrating Hesiod, I am not convinced -by the argument either of the London or the Edinburgh -Reviewer, that it is a system too extensive to -serve for the illustration of a single author, or that -my task was necessarily confined to literal explanation -of the received mythology. In this single author are -concentrated the several heathen legends and heroical -fables, and the whole of that popular theology which -the author of the New System professed to analyse. -Tzetzes, in his scholia upon Hesiod, interpreted the -theogonic traditions by the phenomena of nature and -the operations of the elements: Le Clerc by the -hidden sense which he traced from Phœnician primitives: -and to these Cooke, in his notes, added -the moral apologues of Lord Bacon. In departing,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiv"></a>[xiv]</span> -therefore, from the beaten track of the school-boy’s -Pantheon, I have only exercised the same freedom -which other commentators and translators have -assumed before me.</p> - -<p class="hanging"><i>Clifton,<br /> -October, 1815.</i></p> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h3>FOOTNOTES</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> A blank-verse translation of the Battle of the Titans may -be found in Bryant’s “Analysis:” and one of the descriptive -part of “The Shield” in the “Exeter Essays.” Isaac Ritson -translated the Theogony; but the work has remained in MS.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> The untimely death of the writer unfortunately precludes -me from offering my particular acknowledgments to the translator -of Aristotle’s Poetics, for the large and liberal praise which he -has bestowed upon my work in the second number of The London -Review: a journal established on the plan of a more manly -system of criticism by the respectable essayist, whose translations -from the Greek comedy first drew the public attention to -the unjustly vilified Aristophanes.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> “Paintings representing the deluge of Tezpi are found among -the different nations that inhabit Mexico. He saved himself conjointly -with his wife, children, and several animals, on a raft. The -painting represents him in the midst of the water lying in a bark. -The mountain, the summit of which, crowned by a tree, rises -above the waters, is the peak of Colhuacan, the Ararat of the -Mexicans. The men born after the deluge were dumb: a dove, -from the top of the tree distributes among them tongues. When -the great Spirit ordered the waters to withdraw, Tezpi sent out a -vulture. This bird did not return on account of the number of -carcases, with which the earth, newly dried up, was strewn. He -sent out other birds; one of which, the humming-bird, alone returned, -holding in its beak a branch covered with leaves.—Ought -we not to acknowledge the traces of a common origin, wherever -cosmogonical ideas, and the first traditions of nations, offer striking -analogies, even in the minutest circumstances? Does not the -humming-bird of Tezpi remind us of Noah’s dove; that of Deucalion, -and the birds, which, according to Berosus, Xisuthrus -sent out from his ark, to see whether the waters were run off, and -whether he might erect altars to the tutelary deities of Chaldæa?” <span class="smcap">Humboldt’s -Researches</span>, concerning the Institutions and Monuments -of ancient America: translated by <span class="smcap">Helen Maria Williams</span>.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xv"></a>[xv]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak"><span class="smaller">DISSERTATION<br /> -ON</span><br /> -THE LIFE AND ÆRA<br /> -<span class="smaller">OF</span><br /> -HESIOD,<br /> -<span class="smaller">HIS POEMS, AND MYTHOLOGY.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h3 class="nobreak" id="SECTION_I">SECTION I.<br /> -<span class="smaller">ON THE LIFE OF HESIOD.</span></h3> - -</div> - -<p>It is remarked by Velleius Paterculus (Hist. lib. i.) -that “Hesiod had avoided the negligence into which -Homer fell, by attesting both his country and his -parents: but that of his country he had made most -reproachful mention; on account of the fine which -she had imposed on him.” There are sufficient coincidences -in the poems of Hesiod, now extant, to -explain the grounds of this assertion of Paterculus; -but the statement is loose and incorrect.</p> - -<p>As to the mention of his country, if by country -we are to suppose the place of his birth, it can only -be understood by implication, and that not with certainty. -Hesiod indeed relates that his father migrated -from Cuma in Æolia, to Ascra, a Bœotian village at -the foot of mount Helicon; but we are left to conjecture -whether he himself was born at Cuma or at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xvi"></a>[xvi]</span> -Ascra. His affirmation that he had never embarked -in a ship but once, when he sailed across the Euripus -to the Isle of Eubœa on occasion of a poetical contest, -has been thought decisive of his having been -born at Ascra; but the poet is speaking of his nautical -experience: and even if he had originally come -from Cuma, he would scarcely mention a voyage -made in infancy. The observation respecting his -parents tends to countenance the reading of Διου γενος; -race of Dius; instead of διον γενος, race divine; but -the name of one parent only is found. The reproachful -mention of his country plainly alludes to -his charge of corruption against the petty kings or -nobles, who exercised the magistracy of Bœotia: and -by the fine is meant the judicial award of the larger -share of the patrimony to his brother.</p> - -<p>There seems a great probability that Virgil, in his -fourth eclogue, had Hesiod’s golden and heroic ages -in view; and that he alludes to the passage of Justice -leaving the earth, where he says</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The virgin now returns: Saturnian times</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Roll round again:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">and to Hesiod himself in the verse,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The last age dawns, in verse Cumæan sung:<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xvii"></a>[xvii]</span></p> - -<p class="noindent">and not, as is commonly thought, to the Sibyl of Campanian -Cuma. Professor Heyne objects, that Hesiod -makes no mention of the revolution of a better age: -yet such an allusion is significantly conveyed in the -following passage:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh would that Nature had denied me birth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Midst this fifth race, this iron age of earth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That long before within the grave I lay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or long hereafter could behold the day!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">That Virgil elsewhere calls Hesiod’s verse Ascræan is -no argument against his supposing him of Cuma: -there seems no reason why either epithet should not -be used: for the poet was at least of Cumæan extraction. -That Ascræus was Hesiod’s received surname -among the ancients proves nothing as to his -birth-place, nor is any thing proved as to Virgil’s -opinion by his adoption of the title in compliance -with common usage. Apollonius was surnamed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xviii"></a>[xviii]</span> -Rhodius from his residence at Rhodes, yet his birth-place -was Ægypt. After all, nothing is established, -even if it could be certified that Virgil thought him -of Cuma, beyond the single weight of Virgil’s individual -opinion. Plutarch relates, from a more ancient -and therefore a more competent authority, that -of Ephorus, the Cumæan historian, that Dius was -the youngest of three brothers, and emigrated through -distress of debt to Ascra; where he married Pycimede, -the mother of Hesiod.</p> - -<p>If we allow the authenticity of the proem to the -Theogony, Hesiod tended sheep in the vallies of -Helicon; for it is not in the spirit of ancient poetry -to feign this sort of circumstance; and no education -could be conceived more natural for a bard who sang -of husbandry. From the fiction of the Muses presenting -him with a laurel-bough, we may infer also -that he was not a minstrel or harper, but a rhapsodist; -and sang or recited to the branch instead of the -lyre. La Harpe, in his Lycée, <i>ou Cours de Littérature</i>, -asserts that Hesiod was a priest of the temple of the -Muses. I find the same account in Gale’s Court of -the Gentiles; book iii. p. 7. vol. i. who quotes Carion’s -Chronicle of Memorable Events. For this, -however, I can find no ancient authority. On referring -to Pausanias, he mentions, indeed, that the -statue of Hesiod was placed in the temple of the -Muses on Mount Helicon: and in the Works and -Days Hesiod mentions having dedicated to the Muses<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xix"></a>[xix]</span> -of Helicon the tripod which he won in the Eubœan -contest; and observes</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ inspiring Muses to my lips have giv’n</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The love of song, and strains that breathe of heaven.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>From the conjunction of this passage with the account -of Pausanias, has probably arisen a confused -supposition that Hesiod was actually a priest of the -Heliconian temple. The circumstance, although destitute -of express evidence, is however probable, from -his acquaintance with theogonical traditions and his -tone of religious instruction.</p> - -<p>Guietus rejects the whole passage as supposititious, -which respects the voyage to Eubœa, and the contest -in poetry at the funeral games of Amphidamas. -Proclus supposes Plutarch to have also rejected it: -because he speaks of the contest as τα εωλα πραγματα: -which some interpret trite or threadbare tales: others -old wives’ stories. But if the latter sense be the correct -one, Plutarch may have meant to intimate his -disbelief only of Hesiod and Homer having contended; -not altogether of a contest in which Hesiod -took part. In fact it seems reasonable to infer the authenticity -of the passage from this very tradition -of Homer and Hesiod having disputed a prize in -poetry.</p> - -<p>In the pseudo-history entitled “The Contest of -Homer and Hesiod,” is an inscription purporting to -be that on the tripod which Hesiod won from Homer -in Eubœa:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xx"></a>[xx]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">This Hesiod vow’d to Helicon’s blest nine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Victor in Chalcis crown’d o’er Homer, bard divine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Now that the passage in “The Works” was extant -long before this piece was in existence, is susceptible -of easy proof: but if we conceive with the -credulity of Barnes, that the piece is a collection of -scattered traditionary matter of genuine antiquity, -that the passage was not constructed on the narration -may be inferred from the former wanting the name -of Homer. The nullity of purpose in such a forgery -seems to have struck those, who in the indulgence of -the same fanciful whim have substituted, as Proclus -states, for the usual reading in the text of Hesiod,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Υμνω νικησαντα φερειν τριποδ’ ωτωεντα,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I bore a tripod ear’d, my prize, away:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Υμνω νικησαντ’ εν χαλκιδι θειον Ομηρον,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Victor in Chalcis crown’d o’er Homer, bard divine:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">the identical verse in the pretended inscription. It -is incredible that any person should take the trouble -of foisting lines into Hesiod’s poem, for the barren -object of inducing a belief that he had won a poetical -prize from some unknown and nameless bard: unless -we were to presume that the forger omitted the -name through a refinement of artifice, that no suspicion -may be excited by its too minute coincidence -with the traditionary story: but it is a perfectly natural -circumstance that the passage in Hesiod, describing -a contest with some unknown bard, should -have furnished the basis of a meeting between Hesiod<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxi"></a>[xxi]</span> -and Homer: and the tradition is at once explained -by the coincidence of this passage in “The Works,” -and an invocation in the “Hymn to Venus;” where -Homer exclaims on the eve of one of these bardic -festivals,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh in this contest let me bear away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The palm of song: do thou prepare my lay!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The piece entitled “The Contest of Homer and -Hesiod,” is entitled to no authority. It is not credible -that a composition of this nature, consisting of -enigmas with their solutions, and of lines of imperfect -sense which are completed by the alternate verses -of the answerer, should have been preserved by the -oral tradition of ages like complete poems: and the -foolish genealogies, whereby Homer and Hesiod are -traced to Gods, Muses, and Rivers, and are made -cousins, according to the favourite zeal of the Greeks -for finding out a consanguinity in poets, diminish all -the credit of the writer as a sober historian.</p> - -<p>It appears probable that the whole piece was suggested -by the hint of the contest in Plutarch: who -quotes it in his “Banquet of Sages,” as an example -of the ancient contests in poetry. He says Homer -proposed this enigma:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Rehearse, O Muse! the things that ne’er have been,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor e’er shall in the future time be seen:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">which Hesiod answered in a manner no less enigmatical:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">When round Jove’s tomb the clashing cars shall roll</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The trampling coursers straining for the goal</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxii"></a>[xxii]</span></p> - -<p>The same verses, with a few changes, are given in -“The Contest;” only the question is assigned to -Hesiod, and the answer to Homer; as Robinson conjectures, -with perhaps too much refinement, for the -secret purpose of depressing Hesiod under the mask -of exalting him, by appointing Homer to the more -arduous task of solving the questions proposed. -With respect also to the award of Panœdes, the -judge, which is thought to betray the same design -by an imbecile or partial preference of the verses of -Hesiod to those of Homer, the reason stated by -Panœdes, that “it was just to bestow the prize on -him who exhorted men to agriculture and peace, in -preference to him who described only war and carnage” -is equally noble and philosophical; and by no -means merits to have given rise to the proverbial -parody quoted by Barnes: Πανιδος ψηφος “the judgment -of Pan:” instead of Πανοιδου ψηφος, “the judgment -of Panœdes.”</p> - -<p>The piece seems to be a mere exercise of ingenuity, -without any particular design of raising one poet at -the expence of the other: and as it contains internal -evidence of having been composed after the -time of Adrian, who is mentioned by name as “that -most divine Emperor,” and Plutarch flourished under -Trajan, there is reason to suppose that the narrative -of Periander in the “Banquet of Wise Men,” -afforded the first hint of the whole contest.</p> - -<p>To the same zeal for making Hesiod and Homer<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxiii"></a>[xxiii]</span> -competitors we owe another inscription, quoted by -Eustathius, ad Il. A. p. 5.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In Delos first did I with Homer raise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rhapsody of bards; and new the lays:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Phœbus Apollo did our numbers sing;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Latona’s son, the golden-sworded king.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But if the passage in “The Works” be authentic, -the spuriousness of this inscriptive record -detects itself; as Hesiod there confines his voyages -to the crossing the Euripus.</p> - -<p>Pausanias mentions the institution of a contest at -the temple in Delphos, where a hymn was to be sung -in honour of Apollo: and says that Hesiod was excluded -from the number of the candidates because he -had not learnt to sing to the harp. He adds, that -Homer came thither also; and was incapacitated -from trying his skill by the same deficiency: and, -what is very strange, he gives as a reason why he -could not have taken a part in the contest, even were -he a harper, that he was blind.</p> - -<p>From Plutarch, Pausanias, and the author of -“The Contest,” we are enabled to cull some gossiping -traditions of the latter life of Hesiod, which are -scarcely worth the gleaning, except that, like the romancing -Lives of Homer, they are proofs of the -poet’s celebrity.</p> - -<p>Hesiod, we are told, set out on a pilgrimage to the -Delphic Oracle, for the purpose of hearing his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxiv"></a>[xxiv]</span> -fortune: and the old bard could scarcely get in at -the gates of the temple, when the prophetess could -refrain no longer: “<i>afflata est numine quando jam -propriore Dei</i>:”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Blest is the man who treads this hallow’d ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With honours by th’ immortal Muses crown’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bard whose glory beams divinely bright</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far as the morning sheds her ambient light:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But shun the shades of fam’d Nemean Jove;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy mortal end awaits thee in the grove.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But after all her sweet words, the priestess was -but a jilting gypsey; and meant only to shuffle with -the ambiguity of her trade. The old gentleman -carefully turning aside from the Peloponnesian -Nemea, fell into the trap of a temple of the Nemean -Jupiter at Ænoe, a town of Locris. He was here -entertained by one Ganyctor; together with a Milesian, -his fellow-traveller, and a youth called Troilus. -During the night this Milesian violated the daughter -of their host, by name Ctemene: and the grey hairs -of Hesiod, who we are told was an old man twice -over,<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and whose name grew into a proverb for longevity, -could not save him from being suspected of -the deed by the young lady’s brothers, Ctemenus and -Antiphus: they without much ceremony murdered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxv"></a>[xxv]</span> -him in the fields, and “to leave no botches in the -work,” killed the poor boy into the bargain. The -Milesian, we are to suppose, escaped under the -cloud of his miraculous security, free from gashes -and from question. The body of Hesiod was thrown -into the sea; and a dolphin,<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> or a whole shoal -of them, according to another account, conveyed -it to a part of the coast, where the festival of -Neptune was celebrating: and the murderers, having -confessed, were drowned in the waves. Plutarch -(<i>de solertiâ animalium</i>) states that the corpse of -Hesiod was discovered through the sagacity of his -dog.</p> - -<p>The body of a murdered poet, however, was not to -rest quiet without effecting some further extraordinary -prodigies. The inhabitants of Orchomenos, in -Bœotia, having consulted the oracle on occasion of a -pestilence, were answered that, as their only remedy, -they must seek the bones of Hesiod; and that a crow -would direct them. The messengers accordingly -found a crow sitting on a rock; in the cavity of which -they discovered the poet’s remains; transported them -to their own country, and erected a tomb with this -epitaph:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxvi"></a>[xxvi]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The fallow vales of Ascra gave him birth:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His bones are cover’d by the Mingan earth:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Supreme in Hellas Hesiod’s glories rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom men discern by wisdom’s touchstone wise.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Among the Greek Inscriptions is an epitaph on -Hesiod with the name of Alcæus, which has the air -of being a genuine ancient production, from its -breathing the beautiful classic simplicity of the old -Grecian school:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Nymphs in their founts midst Locris’ woodland gloom</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Laved Hesiod’s corse and piled his grassy tomb:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The shepherds there the yellow honey shed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And milk of goats was sprinkled o’er his head:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With voice so sweetly breathed that sage would sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who sip’d pure drops from every Muse’s spring.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Some mention Ctemene, or Clymene, on whose -account Hesiod is said to have been murdered, as -the name of his wife: others call her Archiepe; and -he is supposed to have had by her a son named -Stesichorus. In “The Works” is this passage:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then may not I, nor yet my son remain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In this our generation just in vain:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">which, unless it be only a figure of speech, confirms -the fact of his having a son.</p> - -<p>Pausanias describes a brazen statue of Hesiod in -the forum of the city Thespia, in Bœotia; another -in the temple of Jupiter Olympicus, at Olympia in -Elis; and a third in the temple of the Muses, on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxvii"></a>[xxvii]</span> -Mount Helicon, in a sitting posture, with a harp -resting on his knees; a circumstance which he rather -formally criticises, on the ground that Hesiod recited -with the laurel-branch.</p> - -<p>A brazen statue of Hesiod stood also in the baths -of Zeuxippus, which formed a part of old Byzantium, -and retained the same title, an epithet of Jupiter, -under the Christian Emperors of Constantinople. -(See Gibbon’s Roman Empire, ii. 17; Dallaway’s Constantinople, -p. 110.) Constantine adorned the baths -with statues, and for these Christodorus wrote inscriptions. -That on the statue of Hesiod is quoted -by Fulvius Ursinus, from the Greek Epigrams:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Midst mountain nymphs in brass th’ Ascræan stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Uttering the heaven-breathed song in his infuriate mood.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The collections of antiquities by Fulvius Ursinus, -Gronovius, and Bellorius exhibit a gem, a busto and -a basso-relievo, together with a truncated <i>herma</i>; -which the ingenious artist who designed the frontispiece -to this edition has united with one of the heads. -The bust in the Pembroke collection differs from all -these. In fact the sculptures, whether of Hesiod or -Homer, are only interesting as antiquities of art; -for the likenesses assigned to eminent poets by the -Grecian artists were mostly imaginary:<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> and must -evidently have been so in such ancient instances as these.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxviii"></a>[xxviii]</span></p> - -<p>Greece, at an early period, seems to have possessed -a spirit of just legislation, which formed in the very -bosom of polytheism a certain code of practical religion: -and from the semi-barbarous age of Orpheus, -down to the times of a Solon, a Plato, and a Pindar, -Providence continued to raise up moral instructors of -mankind, in the persons of bards, or legislators, or -philosophers, who by their conceptions of a righteous -governor of the universe, and their maxims of social -duty and natural piety, counteracted the degrading -influence of superstition on the manners of the people: -and sowed the germs of that domestic and public -virtue which so long upheld in power and prosperity -the sister communities of Greece. The same -spirit pervades the writings of Hesiod.</p> - -<p>It is evident even in the times that have passed -since the gospel light was shed abroad among the -nations, that a perverted system of theology may -perfectly consist with a pure practical religion: that -scholastic subtleties, unscriptural traditions, and uncharitable -dogmas, may constitute the creed, while the -religion of primitive Christianity influences the heart. -So, in estimating the character of Hesiod, we must -separate those superstitions which belong to a traditionary -mythology, from that system of opinions -which respected the guidance of human life; the accountableness -of nations and individuals to a heavenly -judge; and the principles of public equity and popular -justice which he derived from the national institutions.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxix"></a>[xxix]</span> -If we examine his poems in this view of their -tendency and spirit, we shall find abundant cause for -admiration and respect of a man, who, born and nurtured -upon the lap of heathen superstition, could -shadow out the maxims of truth in such beautiful -allegories, and recommend the practice of virtue in -such powerful and affecting appeals to the conscience -and the reason.</p> - -<p>They, however, who can feel the infinite superiority -of Christianity over every system of philosophic -morals, will naturally expect that the morality of -Hesiod should come short of that point of purity, -which he, who reads our nature, proposed through -the revealer of his will as a standard for the emulation -of his creatures. But in the zeal of commenting -upon an adopted author, we find that every thing -equivocal has been strained to some unobjectionable -sense; we are presented with Christian graces for -heathen virtues; and Hesiod is not permitted to be -absurd even in his superstitions; which are thought -to involve some refined emblematical meaning; some -lesson of ethical wisdom or of economical prudence.</p> - -<p>The similitude of patriarch and prophet, with -whom he is compared by Robinson, is not a very -exaggerated comparison, in so far as respects the -simplicity of an ancient husbandman, laying down -rules for the general œconomy of life; or the graver -functions of a philosopher, denouncing the visitations -of divine justice on nations and their legislators,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxx"></a>[xxx]</span> -greedy of the gains of corruption. But the learned -editor is unfortunate in selecting for his praise the meek -and placable disposition of Hesiod as completing the -patriarchal character. The indignation which Hesiod -felt at the injuries done him by a brother, and the -venality of his judges, might reasonably excuse the -bitterness of rebuke: but he should not be held up -as a model of equanimity and forbearance. To this -graceless brother he seldom ever addresses himself in -any gentler terms than μεγα νηπιε, <i>greatly foolish</i>: and -I question whether Perses, if he could rise from the -dead, would confess himself very grateful for the -tenderness of this reprehension.</p> - -<p>The adverse decision in the law-suit with his brother -must be confessed to be the hinge on which the -alleged corruptness of his times perpetually turns: -yet as he does not conceal the personal interest which -he has in the question, his frankness wins our confidence; -and simplicity and candour are so plainly -marked in his grave and artless style, that we are insensibly -led to form an exception in his favour as to -the judgment of the character from the writer; to -believe his praises of frugality and temperance sincere; -and to coincide with Paterculus, in the opinion -that he was a man of a contented and philosophical -mind, “fond of the leisure and tranquillity” of rustic -life.</p> - -<p>His countrymen, as Addison expresses it, must -have regarded him “as the oracle of the neighbourhood.”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxxi"></a>[xxxi]</span> -Plutarch adverts to his medical knowledge, -in the person of Cleodemus the physician; and when -we consider that he possessed sufficient astronomy for -the purposes of agriculture, and that he carried his -zeal for science even into nautical details, of which, -notwithstanding, he confesses his inexperience, we -shall acknowledge him to have been a man of extraordinary -attainments for the times in which he lived.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> It has been a favourite theory of learned men, that Virgil had -access to Sibylline prophecies, which foretold the birth of a -Saviour. How came the Sibyls, any more than the Pythonesses -of Delphos, to be ranked on a sudden with the really inspired -prophets? or is it credible that they should have had either the -curiosity, or the power, to inspect the Jewish Scriptures? The -“Sibylline Verses” were confessedly interpolated, if not fabricated, -by the pious fraud of Monks. The imitations from Isaiah -seem no less chimerical. Every description of a golden age -among the poets may be wrested into a similar parallel. Nor -is it to be conceived that Virgil would have produced so dry a -copy of so luxuriant an original. This argument does not affect -the extraordinary coincidence of the time of the appearance of -this eclogue, with the epoch of the Messiah’s birth; which is -exceedingly curious.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> See the epigram; which, for want of an owner, is ascribed -by Tzetzes to Pindar:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hail Hesiod! wisest man! who twice the bloom</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of youth hast prov’d, and twice approach’d the tomb.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> The Greeks were extremely fanciful about dolphins. Several -stories of persons preserved from drowning by dolphins, and romantic -tales of their fondness for children, and their love of -music, are related by Plutarch in his “Banquet of Diocles.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> See “Specimens of ancient Sculpture,” by the society of -Dilettanti.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxxii"></a>[xxxii]</span></p> - -<h3 class="nobreak" id="SECTION_II">SECTION II.<br /> -<span class="smaller">ON THE ÆRA OF HESIOD.</span></h3> - -</div> - -<p>The question of the æra when Hesiod flourished, -and whether he were the elder or the junior of Homer, -or his contemporary, has given rise to such endless -disputes, that Pausanias declines giving any opinion -on the subject. Some of the moderns have attempted -to ascertain the point from internal evidence: 1st, by -the character of style: 2dly, by philological criticism: -3dly, by astronomical calculation.</p> - -<p>In the first instance they are unfortunately by no -means agreed. Justus Lipsius asserts that a greater -simplicity and more of the rudeness of antiquity are -apparent in Hesiod: Salmasius insists that Hesiod -is more smooth and finished, and less imbued with -antiquity than Homer.</p> - -<p>As to the argument of Heinsius respecting -τεκμαιρομαι being used by Homer in the sense of <i>to -effect</i> or <i>bring to pass</i>, and by Hesiod in that of <i>to -appoint</i>, <i>contrive</i>, or <i>will</i>; and as to the former being -the more ancient acceptation; the proof totally fails: -inasmuch as Homer has repeatedly used the word <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxxiii"></a>[xxxiii]</span>in -the latter sense: and with regard to the use of -θεμιστας by Homer for law, when Hesiod uses νομους, -which is asserted not to have been known in Homer’s -age, the objection is vague; unless we suppose that -Homer’s poems<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> contained every word in the language. -The argument of the celebrated Dr. Samuel -Clarke, in favour of their being of a different age, -and of Hesiod being the junior, turns on the word -καλος; which in Homer is invariably made long in -the first syllable; whereas Hesiod makes it either -long or short at pleasure: and on the word οπωρινος; -of which the penult is long in Homer, and short in -Hesiod. But should the argument affect their being -coeval, it does not appear why Hesiod might not be -the elder: for who will be bold enough to decide as -to the most ancient quantity? nor could we possibly -determine the question, unless we were in possession -of other poets, contemporary with Homer, who should -be found to conform exactly with the Homeric prosody: -in which case the disagreement of Hesiod might -favour a presumption of his belonging, at least, to a -different age. The criticism seems, however, in all -respects unworthy of so acute a reasoner as Dr. -Clarke: for surely the difference of country alone -might induce a difference of prosodial usage, no less -than a dissimilarity of dialect. But the most decisive -answer to all such minute criticisms appears to be,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxxiv"></a>[xxxiv]</span> -that all the evidence afforded us on historical authority -respecting the discovery, collection, and arrangement -of the poems ascribed to Homer, justifies the -presumption that their dialect, diction, and prosody -have undergone<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> such modifications and changes, as -to baffle all chronological reasoning drawn from the -present state of the poems.</p> - -<p>Scaliger and Vossius have thought that the æra of -Hesiod could be ascertained within seventy years, -more or less, by astronomical calculation, from the -following passage of The Works and Days.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">When sixty days have circled, since the sun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Turn’d from his wintry tropic, then the star</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arcturus, leaving ocean’s sacred flood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">First whole-apparent makes his evening rise.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It is singular that so great a philosopher as Dr. -Priestley should also have argued for the certainty of -the same method of chronology in this instance of -Hesiod. (Lectures on History, Lect. xii. p. 99.) -But neither the accuracy nor the precise nature of -the astronomical observation here commemorated -can possibly be ascertained. It is uncertain whether<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxxv"></a>[xxxv]</span> -the single star Arcturus may not be placed for the -whole constellation of Boötes; of which there are -examples in Columella, and other writers. It is -wholly uncertain whether this rising was observed in -Hesiod’s own country, or even in Hesiod’s own time; -a knowledge of both which particulars is essential to -our making a just calculation. We shall scarcely -ascribe to Hesiod a more scientific accuracy than to -subsequent astronomers; yet we find that even <i>their</i> observations -of the solstices and of the risings and settings -of the stars, are ambiguous, and most probably -fallacious. Hesiod makes the achronycal rising of -Arcturus sixty days after the winter solstice: many -other writers, and particularly Pliny, say the same. -Now setting the difference between Hesiod and Pliny at -800 years, this will make a difference of eleven days -in the time of the phænomenon. Both therefore -cannot have written from actual observation, and -probably neither did. The ancients copied from -each other without scruple; because they knew not -till the time of Hipparchus, that the times of rising -&c. varied by the course of ages. They seem besides -to have copied from writers of various latitudes: -unconscious that this also made a difference. We -shall not then be disposed to rely on this, or similar -passages of Hesiod, for any secure data of chronology.</p> - -<p>In the absence of internal evidence we are therefore -referred to the opinions of antiquity. There is a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxxvi"></a>[xxxvi]</span> -remark of Gibbon in that part of his Posthumous -Writings entitled “Extraits raisonnés de mes Lectures,” -which lays down an excellent rule of judgment -in matters of chronology. He very justly observes, -that the differences of chronologers may be reconciled -by the consideration that they reckoned from -different æras of the person’s life. The fixing the -date from different periods, as from the birth or -death, the production of a work,<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> or any other remarkable -event of a person’s life, might easily make -the difference of a century. “So that we may -establish it as a rule of criticism, that where these -diversities do not exceed the natural term of human -life we ought to think of reconciling, and not of opposing -them. There are, indeed, many writers, with -respect to Homer, whom it is impossible to conciliate; -since they take in so enormous a period as 416 -years, from the return of the Heraclidæ A. C. 1104 -to the twenty-third Olympiad A. C. 688. But besides -that they are of inferior note, the great difference -among them leaves the authority of each to -stand singly by itself.”</p> - -<p>This reasoning very much diminishes whatever<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxxvii"></a>[xxxvii]</span> -force might be derived from the authority of names, -to the computations of those writers who contend that -Hesiod is a century younger than Homer. These are -the Latin writers; whose concurrence is however so -exact as to induce a belief of their having merely -copied from each other. Thus Velleius Paterculus, -who wrote his history 30 years after Christ, says that -Homer flourished 950 years before his time; that is, -before Christ 920; and Pliny about the year 78 computed -that Homer lived 1000 years before him; before -Christ 920. Paterculus follows Cicero in placing -Hesiod 120 years after Homer: Pliny, Porphyry, -and Solinus, concur in the order of their ages, and -in the interval between them: varying only from ten -to twenty or thirty years. But on the plan laid down -by Gibbon, this chronology might be reconciled with -that of Ephorus, and Varro: who, according to -Aulus Gellius, made Hesiod and Homer contemporaries: -as did Plutarch and Philostratus.</p> - -<p>This opinion is supported by the ancient authority -of Herodotus; and by that of the Chronicler of the -Parian Marbles. The authenticity of these marbles -has, indeed, been impugned by a learned dissertation -of Mr. Robertson, printed in 1788. To this an answer -was published in 1789, by Mr. Hewlett: and -Mr. Gough has defended the genuineness of the -Chronicle in a Memoir of the Archæologia, vol. ix. -Gibbon observes, “I respect that monument as a -useful, as an uncorrupt monument of antiquity: but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxxviii"></a>[xxxviii]</span> -why should I prefer its authority to that of Herodotus? -it is more modern: (B. C. 264:) its author is -uncertain: we know not from what source he drew -his chronology.”<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The Parian Marble, however, if not -a modern forgery, may be allowed to stand on the -same footing with other Greek tablets of chronology.</p> - -<p>Herodotus was born B. C. 484. He affirms Hesiod -and Homer to have preceded his own time by four -hundred years: thus making them contemporaries; -and fixing their æra at B. C. 884.</p> - -<p>The Chronicler of the Marbles fixes the æra of -Hesiod at 944 years B. C.: and that of Homer at -907; by which Hesiod is placed 37 years before -Homer; a difference, however, too trifling to affect -the chronological evidence in favour of their contemporary -existence.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> Robinson, Dissertatio de Hesiodo.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> “If we consider the chronology of Homer’s life to be sufficiently -established, one would be tempted to believe that his -rhapsodies, as they were called, have not only been arranged and -digested in a subsequent period, as has been asserted on good -authority, but have even undergone something similar to the -<i>refaccimento</i> by Berni of Boyardo’s Orlando.” Essays annexed -to Professor Millar’s History of the English Government.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> It is strange, however, that a critic like Gibbon should have -allowed himself to talk of a definite time when “Homer wrote -his Iliad;” in an age when alphabetic characters were not in use; -when poets composed only rhapsodies, or such portions as could -be recited at one time; which were preserved by oral tradition -through the recitations of succeeding bards.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> The first specimen of a regular tablet of chronology is said -to have been given by Demetrius Phalereus in his Αρχοντων Αναγραφη, -about the middle of the fourth century B. C. The historian -Timæus, who flourished in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, -first arranged his narrative in the order of Olympiads; which -began B. C. 776. His contemporary Sosibius, gave a work entitled -Χρονων Αναγραφη: Apollodorus wrote the Συνταξις Χρονικη: and -on such chronologers rests the credit of all later compilers, as -well as of the Arundelian Marbles. <span class="smcap">Dr. Gillies.</span></p> - -<p>We are informed by Dr. Clarke, in his “Travels,” that these -marbles were not found in Paros, but in the Isle of Zia.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxxix"></a>[xxxix]</span></p> - -<h3 class="nobreak" id="SECTION_III">SECTION III.<br /> -<span class="smaller">ON THE POEMS OF HESIOD.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></span></h3> - -</div> - -<p>Pausanias informs us that “the Bœotians, who -dwell round Helicon, have a tradition among them<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xl"></a>[xl]</span> -that Hesiod wrote nothing besides the poem of -‘Works:’ and from this they take away the introduction, -and say that the poem properly begins with -The Strifes. They showed me a leaden tablet near -the fountain, which was almost entirely eaten away -with age, and on which were engraven the Works -and Days of Hesiod.”</p> - -<p>It is difficult to account for the manifest mutilation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xli"></a>[xli]</span> -and corruption of this venerable poet’s compositions, -since it appears that they were extant in a complete, -or at least, a more perfect form, so late as the age of -Vespasian. Pliny, book xiv. complaining of the agricultural -ignorance of his age, observes that even the -names of several trees enumerated by Hesiod had -grown out of knowledge: and in book xv. he adverts -to Hesiod’s opinion of the unprofitableness of the -olive. From some verses in the Astronomicon of -Manilius, an Augustan writer, it would seem that he -had treated of ingrafting, and of the soils adapted to -corn and vines.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He sings how corn in plains, how vines in hills</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Delight, how both with vast increase the olive fills:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How foreign grafts th’ adulterous stock receives,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bears stranger fruit and wonders at her leaves.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Creech.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">and it is remarkable that the line in Virgil translated -by Dryden,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And old Ascrean verse through Roman cities sing,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">occurs in that book of the Georgics which is dedicated -to planting, ingrafting, and the dressing of vines. -In the “Works,” as they now appear, we find no -mention of any trees but such as are fit for the fabrication -of the plough: and it is plain that the -countrymen of Pliny could be in no danger of forgetting -the names of the oak, the elm, or the bay-tree. -Of the olive, and of ingrafting, there is no -mention whatever, and but a cursory notice on the -vine: nor is there any comparison of the soils respectively -adapted to the growth of vines and of corn.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xlii"></a>[xlii]</span></p> - -<p>The poem in some editions has been divided into -two books; under the general title of “Works and -Days,” but with a subdivision entitled Days only: -by which arrangement it is made virtually to consist -of three books. In Loesner’s edition the distinction -of the second book is done away: but the subdivision -of Days is retained. From either mode of disposition -this incoherency results: that Works and Days -no longer appear to be the general title, but applicable -only to the former part of the poem, in which -there is no mention of Days at all. The ancient -copies, as Heinsius has shown, had no division into -parts. If any minor distinction be deemed admissible -for the more convenient arrangement of the subject, -the disposition of Henry Stephens is obviously -the most rational: whereby the poem is divided into -two parts: the first entitled “Works” only, and the -second “Days.”</p> - -<p>Cooke explains the “Works” of Hesiod to mean -the labours of agriculture, and the “Days” the -proper seasons for the Works; but erroneously. The -term <i>Works</i> is to be taken with greater latitude, as -including not only labours, but actions; and as referring -equally to the moral, as to the industrious -œconomy of human life. It is evident also that the -term “Days” does not respect the seasons of labour -specified in the course of the poem, but the days of -superstitious observance at the end of it: and of -these many have no reference whatever to the works -of husbandry.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xliii"></a>[xliii]</span></p> - -<p>The Theogony has all the appearance of being a -patchwork of fragments; consisting of some genuine -Hesiodéan passages;<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> pieced together with verses of -other poets, and probably of a different age. The -mythology is occasionally inconsistent with itself: thus -the god Chrysaor is re-introduced among the demi-gods; -and the Fates are born over again from different -parents: an incongruity which Robinson attempts -to obviate by an ingenious, but over-refined construction.</p> - -<p>The proem bears the internal marks of comparatively -modern refinement. It has not the simple -outline of Hesiod. The whole passage has the air of -one of those introductions which the rhapsodists -were accustomed to prefix to their recitations: it is -conceived in a more florid taste than the usual composition -of Hesiod, but expressed with considerable -elegance of fancy.</p> - -<p>These arguments are not affected by the individual -opinions of Romans and Greeks, themselves modern -with respect to Hesiod. Ovid in his “Art of Love” -alludes to this proem:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xliv"></a>[xliv]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The sister Muses did I ne’er behold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While, Ascra! midst thy vales, I fed my fold.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Plutarch in the ninth book of his Symposiacs, quotes -two of the verses in illustration of the propriety of -epithets: Pausanias appeals to the presentation of -the branch as evidence that Hesiod did not sing to -the lyre; and Lucian in his dialogue “on the illiterate -book-collector” observes, “how can you -have known these things without having learnt them? -how or whence? unless at any time you have received -a branch from the Muses like that shepherd. -They, indeed, did not disdain to appear to the shepherd, -though a rough hairy man, with a sun-burnt -complexion; but they would never have deigned to -come near you:” and in the “Dialogue with Hesiod” -he banters him as promising to sing of futurity; and -affecting the Chalcas or Phineas, when there is nothing -of prophecy in his whole poem. An indirect argument -for the spuriousness of the verses.</p> - -<p>It must have been an impression of this proem -which led Gibbon in his “Notes on the editions of -the Classics” (Miscellaneous Works, vol. v.) to observe, -“in the Theogony I can discern a more recent -hand:” for many details in the poem have all the -internal evidence of antiquity. Perhaps the catalogue -of names, which Robinson superfluously defends -on the score of their metrical harmony, and compares -with Homer’s catalogue of ships, of which the merit -is geographical and historical, may furnish a strong -presumptive argument of antiquity. They would<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xlv"></a>[xlv]</span> -appear to have been composed at a period when alphabetic -writing was unknown, and the memory of -names and things depended on the technical help of -oral tradition.</p> - -<p>Pausanias says, speaking of the Theogony, “There -are some who consider Hesiod as the author of this -poem.” That <i>some</i> theogony was composed by Hesiod -is evidenced by the passage in Herodotus; who, speaking -of Hesiod and Homer, affirms, “these are they -who framed a Theogony for the Greeks:” and the -fable of Pandora in the Theogony, that we now possess, -bears characteristical marks of having come from -the same hand as that in the Works and Days.</p> - -<p>Of the Shield of Hercules it is asserted by Cooke, -that “there is great reason to believe this poem was -not in existence in the time of Augustus:” but he -merely advances, in proof of this assertion, that -“Manilius, who was an author of the Augustan -age, takes notice of no other than the Theogony, -and the Works and Days:” yet this, if indeed anything -decisive could be concluded from the omission, -would only prove that he did not believe the piece -authentic. He further remarks that critics should not -suppose it to have formed a part of another poem, -unless they could show when, where, or by whom -the title had been changed. This is surely to demand -a very unreasonable as well as unnecessary kind of -proof. The distinct title affords, in fact, no evidence -for the completeness of the poem; as we learn from -Ælian, that portions of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xlvi"></a>[xlvi]</span> -were known by such separate titles as, “the Funeral -Games of Patroclus,” the “Grot of Calypso;” and sung -as detached pieces. The argument of Cooke that it -cannot be an imitation of the Shield of Achilles, -because the description of the mere Shield occupies -but a small part of the piece, is equivalent to contending -that Virgil could not have imitated the simile -of Diana in the first book of the Æneid from the -Odyssey, because the rest of the book bears no resemblance -to any thing in Homer. A slight presumption -of the Shield being from the hand of -Hesiod may be founded on a quotation of Polybius, -from one of Hesiod’s lost works: the historian speaks -of the Macedonians as being “such as Hesiod describes -the Æacidæ; rejoicing in war rather than in -the banquet:” book v. ch. i. In the Shield, Iölaus -says of himself and Hercules, that battles “are better -to them than a feast.” The expression, however, -may have been proverbial, and used by more poets -than one.</p> - -<p>The poem is ascribed to Hesiod by Athenæus: but -Aristophanes the grammarian rejected it as spurious, -and Longinus speaks doubtingly of Hesiod being the -author. Tanaquil Faber confidently asserts “that -they who think the Shield not of Hesiod, have but a -very superficial acquaintance with Grecian poetry:” -and on the other side Joseph Scaliger speaks of the -author, whoever he may be, of the Shield; which -the critical world by a preposterous judgment have -attributed to the poet of Ascra. It is not by a reference<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xlvii"></a>[xlvii]</span> -to authorities that the question must be decided, -but by an examination of the interior structure -of the poem, and the evidence of style.</p> - -<p>The objections to a great part of the poem consist -in its unlikeness to the style of Hesiod, and its resemblance -to that of Homer.</p> - -<p>Robinson insists in reply that it is very usual for -the same author to show a diversity of style; which -is at least an admission that Hesiod is here different -from himself. But to his question “whether we demand -the same fervour and force in the Georgics of -Virgil as in the Æneid?” it may be asked in return -whether a certain similarity of style be not clearly -distinguishable in these poems, however distinct their -nature? there is, indeed, a difference, but not absolutely -a discordance.</p> - -<p>The whole laboured argument which he has bestowed -on the necessary dissimilarity of didactic and -heroical composition is plainly foreign to the question. -Who would dream of urging as an objection to its -authenticity, that the style of “The Shield” is -unlike the <i>georgical</i> style of Hesiod? the objection -is, that it is unlike his <i>epic</i> style: and Robinson has -brought the question to a fair issue by his remark -that the Battle of the Gods abounds no less than the -Shield with the ornaments of poetry.</p> - -<p>It is not sufficient that these passages respectively -display ornament; we must examine whether they -display a similar style of ornament. Now the descriptive<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xlviii"></a>[xlviii]</span> -part of the Shield is in a gorgeous taste; -unlike the bold and simple majesty of the Theogony. -There is a visible effort to surprise by something marvellous -and uncommon; which often verges on conceit -and extravagance. For sublime images we are -presented with gigantic and distorted figures, and -with hideous conceptions of disgusting horror. There -is indeed a considerable degree of genius even in -these faulty passages: but whoever perceives a resemblance -in the imagery of the Shield to that of -the Titanic War, may equally trace an affinity between -Virgil and Ariosto.</p> - -<p>These reasonings affect that part of the poem -chiefly, which is occupied with the mere description -of the Shield; but a single circumstance will show -that the passages which represent the action of the -poem are both foreign to Hesiod’s manner, and are -in the manner of Homer. I allude to the employment -of similes and to the character of those similes.</p> - -<p>Homer is fond of comparisons; and of such, particularly, -as are drawn from animated nature. The -Shield of Hercules also abounds with similes, and -they are precisely of this sort. But the frequent use -of similitudes is so far from being characteristic of -Hesiod, that in the whole Battle of the Giants but -one occurs; and only one in the Combat of Jupiter -and Typhæus; and in both we look in vain for any -comparison drawn from lions, or boars, or vultures.</p> - -<p>Robinson appears, indeed, conscious of a more<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xlix"></a>[xlix]</span> -crowded and diversified imagery in the Shield than -we usually meet with in Hesiod’s poetry; for he is -driven to the miserable alternative of supposing that -Hesiod may have produced the Shield in his youth, -and his other works in his old age. Longinus in the -same manner accounts for the comparative quiet simplicity -of the Odyssey. The supposition in either -case is founded on the erroneous principle, that a -poem is beautiful in proportion to the noise and fury -of its action, or the accumulation of its ornament. -The notion of the genius necessarily declining with the -decline of youthful vigour is completely unphilosophical; -and is contradicted by repeated experience of -the human faculties. It was in his old age that -Dryden wrote his “Fables.”</p> - -<p>As to that portion of the poem which is properly -the Shield, and from which the whole piece takes its -title, it is self-evident that this must have been borrowed -from the description in the Iliad, or the description -in the Iliad from this. I do not allude -merely to a whole series of verses being literally the -same in each; but to long passages of description, -bearing so close a resemblance as to preclude the idea -of accidental coincidence; such as the bridal procession, -the siege, the harvest, and the vintage.</p> - -<p>Robinson admits the imitation; but thinks the -partisans of Homer cannot easily show that Homer -was not the copyist. It were, however, easy to decide -from internal evidence which is the copy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_l"></a>[l]</span></p> - -<p>Where two poems are found so nearly resembling -each other as to convey at once the impression of -plagiarism, the scale of originality must doubtless -preponderate in favour of that which is the more -simple in style and invention. Where a poem -abounds with florid figures and irregular flights of -imagination, it is inconceivable that a <i>copy</i> of that -poem should exhibit a chaste simplicity of fancy: but -it is highly natural that an imitator should think to -transcend his original by the aid of meretricious ornament; -that he should mistake bombast for sublimity, -and attempt to dazzle and astonish. Of this -sort of elaborate refinement a single instance will -serve in illustration.</p> - -<p>Both poets encircle their bucklers with the ocean. -Robinson gives the preference to the author of The -Shield of Hercules; alleging that his description is -decorated with the utmost beauty of imagery; while -that of The Shield of Achilles is naked of embellishment. -To the unornamented style of the passage -in Homer I appeal, as demonstrating the superiority -of his judgment, and as thereby establishing beyond -dispute the fact of his originality.</p> - -<p>In one condensed verse he pours around the verge -of the buckler “the great strength of the ocean -stream.” An image of roundness and completeness -is here at once presented to the eye, and fills the mind. -But the author of the Shield of Hercules, evidently -striving to excel Homer, says that “high-soaring<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_li"></a>[li]</span> -swans there clamoured aloud, and many floated on -the surface of the billows, and near them fishes were -leaping tumultuously.” Who does not perceive that -the full image of the rounding ocean is broken and -rendered indistinct by this multiplicity of images? -The description is, indeed, picturesque; <i>at nunc non -erat his locus</i>.</p> - -<p>Yet that Hesiod was the plagiarist will scarcely be -contended, until the assertion already advanced respecting -the epic simplicity of his style shall have -been set aside.</p> - -<p>But the former part of the piece has all the internal -marks of having been composed by an author of -totally dissimilar genius. It has the stamp of the -ancient simplicity upon it. A few passages are magnificent; -but still in a noble and pure taste. Here -then I discern the hand of Hesiod. But the presumption -rests on surer grounds than characteristics -of style.</p> - -<p>In the concluding verses of the Theogony, the -poet invokes the Muses to sing the praises of women; -and among the lost works of Hesiod, whose titles -are dispersed in ancient authors, are enumerated the -four Catalogues of Women or Heroines; and the -Herogony, or Generation of Heroes descended from -them; which are thought to have been five connected -parts of the same poem. That this was the work of -Hesiod we have the testimony of Pausanias; who -alludes to the tale of Aurora and Cephalus, and that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lii"></a>[lii]</span> -of Iphigenia, as treated by Hesiod in his Catalogue -of Women. The fourth Catalogue had acquired a -secondary title of Ηοιαι μεγαλαι; the great Eoiæ: -fantastically framed out of the words η οιη, or <i>such -as</i>, which introduced the stories of the successive -heroines. From the use of this title a strange idea -got abroad that Eoa was the name of a young woman -of Ascra, the mistress of Hesiod.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Bœotian Hesiod, vers’d in various lore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forsook the mansion where he dwelt before:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Heliconian village sought, and woo’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The maid of Ascra in her scornful mood:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There did the suffering bard his lays proclaim,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The strain beginning with Eoa’s name.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Hermisianax of Colophon</span>, in Athenæus, book xiii.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Among the minor fragments of Hesiod are preserved -three passages, each beginning with the words -η οιη, introductory of a female description. They are -naturally considered as remnants of the Fourth Catalogue. -Now the piece entitled “The Shield of -Hercules” also opens with these identical words, introductory -of the story of Alcmena.</p> - -<p>Fabricius decides that these introductory words -will not permit us to doubt that “The Shield of -Hercules” formed part of the Fourth Catalogue;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_liii"></a>[liii]</span> -but the inference does not necessarily extend beyond -the first portion of the piece. Robinson justly argues -on the incongruity of the poet’s digressing from the -tale of Alcmena, to tell a story of Hercules; and he -therefore conjectures that this piece is a fragment of -the Heroical Genealogies; but aware that the concurrence -of the exordium with the above-mentioned -fragments, points the attention to the Fourth Catalogue, -he cuts the Gordian knot by changing η οιη, -or <i>such as</i>, into η οιη, <i>she alone</i>.</p> - -<p>Guietus suggests the reading of ηοιη, <i>rising with the -dawn</i>; for the purpose of rendering the piece complete -in itself: but the very basis of the argument in -favour of the authenticity of the poem as a work of -Hesiod, is the striking coincidence of the introductory -lines with the fragments of the Fourth Catalogue. -This may be set aside by the ingenious expedient -of altering the text; but if the text be suffered -to remain, the presumption, so far as it extends, -is irresistible. I do conceive that Robinson, -when his judgment consented to this alteration of -the reading, yielded a very important advantage to -those who dispute the genuineness of the poem, as -the production of Hesiod; that by the abandonment -of these remarkably coincident words the difficulty -of proving the poem to be a fragment is increased -two-fold; and that with the fact of its being -a fragment is closely linked the fact of its authenticity.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_liv"></a>[liv]</span></p> - -<p>From what has been said, it will perhaps be thought -extraordinary that the idea of a <i>cento</i> of dispersed -fragments, pieced together and interpolated with -Homeric imitations, never suggested itself to those -critics who have bestowed such elaborate scrutiny on -the composition of the poem.</p> - -<p>In the scholium of the Aldine edition of Hesiod, -it is stated, “The beginning of the Shield as far as -the 250th verse is said to form a part of the Fourth -Catalogue.” Here is at once an admission of the -patchwork texture of the piece; and we may be allowed -to conjecture that the scholiast may possibly be -mistaken as to the exact number of lines. This -portion, in fact, comprehends the meeting of Hercules -with Cygnus, and his arming for battle; which -follows, with a strange and startling abruptness, immediately -on his birth; and seems to have little connexion -with the praises of a heroine, in a poem devoted -exclusively to celebrated women.</p> - -<p>I should, therefore, be inclined to consider the -first fifty-six lines only as belonging to the Fourth -Catalogue. This introductory part, ending with the -birth of Hercules, is awkwardly coupled with his -warlike adventure in the grove of Apollo by the line</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Who also slew Cygnus, the magnanimous son of Mars.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">This line is perceptibly the link of connexion between -the two fragments, and betrays the hand of the -interpolator. The succeeding passage, as far as verse<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lv"></a>[lv]</span> -153, I conjecture to have formed a part of the Herogony. -It seems probable that Hesiod’s description -of the sculpture on the Shield of Hercules was limited -to the dragon in the centre, and the figure of -Discord hovering above it; and was meant to end -with the effects produced by the sight of this shield -on the hero’s enemies. This short description appears -to have suggested the experiment of ingrafting upon -it a florid parody of the Shield of Achilles; and that -here precisely we may fix the commencement of the -spurious additions is probable from the verses</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Οστεα δε σφι, περι ρινοῖο σαπεισης,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Σειριου αζαλεοιο, κελαινῇ πυθεται αιῃ.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent10">Through the flesh that wastes away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the parching sun, their whitening bones</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Start forth, and moulder in the sable dust:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">being instantly followed by a passage from the Achillean -Shield: Εν δε προιωξις, &c.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Pursuit was there, and fiercely rallying Flight.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>I suppose, therefore, the description of the putrefying -corses of the foes of Hercules to have joined -the 320th verse; where he is made to grasp the -shield and ascend the chariot. Several of the subsequent -passages, as, in particular, the description of -the Cicada, appear to me genuine; but they are visibly -patched with Homeric similes, which are in -general mere plagiarisms; and are not at all in unison -with the style of the rest of the poem; nor with the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lvi"></a>[lvi]</span> -characteristic manner of Hesiod. This mixture of -authenticity and imposture will explain the contradictory -decisions of learned men; who, in examining -this curious question, have looked only at one side.</p> - -<p>It does not appear that Hesiod was the most ancient -author either of a theogony or a rural poem; -although Herodotus speaks of him as the first who -framed a theogonic system for the Greeks, and Pliny -cites him as the earliest didactic poet on agriculture. -But tradition has preserved the fame of theogonies by -Orpheus and Musæus: and Tzetzes mentions two -poems of Orpheus, the one entitled <i>Works</i>, the other -<i>Diaries</i>; the archetypes, probably, of The Works -and Days.</p> - -<p>Quintilian observes that “Hesiod rarely rises, and -a great part of him is occupied in names; yet he is -distinguished by useful sentences conveying precepts, -and a commendable sweetness of words and construction; -and the palm is given him in that middle -kind of writing.”</p> - -<p>This is niggardly praise; and is somewhat similar -to that which the same critic awards to Apollonius -Rhodius;<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> whose picturesque style and impassioned<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lvii"></a>[lvii]</span> -sentiment are honoured with the diluted commendation -of “an equable mediocrity.” Who that read -the above character would suppose that Hesiod was -at all superior to the gnomic or sententious poets; -such as Theognis or Phocylides? that he had ever -composed his Combat of Giants, or his Ages of Gold -and of Iron?</p> - -<p>If the battle of the Titans be Hesiod’s genuine -composition, and if the Shield, as there is reason to -believe, contain authentic extracts from his Heroical -Genealogies, we shall decide that Hesiod, as compared -with Homer, is less rapid; less fervent in -action; less teeming with allusions and comparisons; -but grand, energetic, occasionally vehement and -daring; but more commonly proceeding with a slow -and stately march. In the mental or moral sublime -I consider Hesiod as superior to Homer. The personification -of Prayers in the latter is almost the -only allegory that can be compared with the awful -prosopopeia of Justice, weeping her wrongs at the -feet of the Eternal: while Justice and Modesty, described -as virgins in white raiment, ascending out of -the sight of men into heaven, and the Holy Dæmons, -after having animated the bodies of just men, hovering -round the earth, and keeping watch over human -actions, are equalled by no conceptions in the Iliad -or Odyssey.</p> - -<p>Addison, with that squeamish artificial taste which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lviii"></a>[lviii]</span> -distinguishes the age of Anne, as compared with that -of Elizabeth, underrates, as might have been expected, -the vigorous simplicity of Hesiod. But the -strong though simple sketches of the old Ascræan -bard are often more striking than the finished paintings -of the Mantuan. Critics admire the pastoral -board of Virgil’s Corycian husbandman; but there -is a far greater charm in the summer-repast of Hesiod: -so picturesque in its scenery; so patriarchal in its -manners. The winter tempest is a bolder copy of -nature than any thing in the Latin Georgics; more -fresh in colouring; more circumstantiated in detail. -The rising of the north-wind, moving the ocean, -rooting the pines and oaks from the tops of the mountains, -and strewing them along the valleys, and after -a pause, suddenly roaring in its strength through the -depths of the forests; the exquisite circumstances of -life intermingled with the effects of the storm on inanimate -nature; the beasts quaking and grinding their -teeth with cold and famine; shuddering at the snowflakes, -and shrinking into dens and thickets; the old -man bent double with the blast;<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> the delicate contrast -of the young virgin, sheltered in a soft chamber -under her mother’s roof, and bathing previously to -her nightly rest, compose a picture wild, romantic, -and interesting in an uncommon degree.</p> - -<p>As a legendary mythologist the elegant tale of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lix"></a>[lix]</span> -Pandora, and the Island of the Blessed Spirits, are far -beyond any thing of Ovid, and can only be compared -with Homer: and as a poetical moralist, the strongest -proof of his merit is, that innumerable sentences of -Hesiod, as is well remarked by Voltaire in his “Dictionnaire -Philosophique” have grown into proverbial -axioms. Cicero observes in one of his Epistles; “Let -our dear Lepta learn Hesiod, and have by heart -‘the gods have placed before virtue the sweat of the -brow.’” His plain and downright rules of decency,<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> -his superstitious saws, and his lumber of names, belong -to the manners of a semi-barbarous village and -the learning of a dark age: his genius and his wisdom -are his own. From that which remains, mutilated -as it obviously is, we may form a judgment of -what he would appear to us, if the whole of his numerous -works, complete and unadulterated by foreign -mixture, were submitted to our observation. <i>Ex -pede Herculem.</i></p> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> The following are enumerated as the lost poems of Hesiod.</p> - -<p>The Catalogue of Women or Heroines, in five parts, of which -the fifth appears to have been entitled “The Herogony.” <span class="smcap">Suidas.</span></p> - -<p>The Melampodia; from the sooth-sayer Melampus; a poem on -divination. <span class="smcap">Pausanias</span>, <span class="smcap">Athenæus</span>.</p> - -<p>The great Astronomy or Stellar Book. <span class="smcap">Pliny.</span></p> - -<p>Descent of Theseus into Hades. <span class="smcap">Pausanias.</span></p> - -<p>Admonitions of Chiron to Achilles. <span class="smcap">Pausanias</span>, <span class="smcap">Aristophanes</span>.</p> - -<p>Soothsayings and Explications of Signs. <span class="smcap">Pausanias.</span></p> - -<p>Divine Speeches. <span class="smcap">Maximus Tyrius.</span></p> - -<p>Great Actions. <span class="smcap">Athenæus.</span></p> - -<p>Of the Dactyli of Cretan Ida; discoverers of iron. <span class="smcap">Suidas</span>, -<span class="smcap">Pliny</span>.</p> - -<p>Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis. <span class="smcap">Tzetzes.</span></p> - -<p>Ægimius. <span class="smcap">Athenæus.</span> <i>Apocryphal.</i></p> - -<p>Elegy on Batrachus, a beloved youth. <span class="smcap">Suidas.</span></p> - -<p>Circuit of the Earth. <span class="smcap">Strabo.</span></p> - -<p>The Marriage of Ceyx. <span class="smcap">Athenæus</span>, <span class="smcap">Plutarch</span>.</p> - -<p>On Herbs. <span class="smcap">Pliny.</span></p> - -<p>On Medicine. <span class="smcap">Plutarch.</span></p> - -<p>Fabricius (Bibliotheca Græca) supposes the two latter subjects -to be alluded to as incidental topics in other works of Hesiod. -But the passages quoted by him from Pliny and Plutarch seem -to justify the opinion that they meant to advert to distinct poems. -There is nothing in the works extant which favours the former -idea. Mallows and asphodel are the only herbs mentioned: and -that merely as synonymous with a frugal meal: like the <i>cichorea -levesque malvæ</i> of Horace: nor is there anything medical; -for the passages respecting bathing, children, &c. are mere superstitions, -unconnected with health. Athenæus (book iii.) quotes -some verses as ascribed to Hesiod respecting the fishes fit for -salting; but says they seem to be rather the verses of a cook -than of a poet; and adds that cities are mentioned in them -which were posterior to Hesiod’s time. Lilius Gyraldus states -that the fables of Æsop have been assigned to Hesiod. Plutarch, -indeed, observes that Æsop might himself have profited by -Hesiod’s apologue of the Hawk and the Nightingale; and Quintilian -mentions Hesiod, and not Æsop, as the earliest fabulist; -which passages may have been strained to bear the above meaning. -As to the Greek fables, extant under the name of Æsop, -they are proved to be spurious. See Bentley’s Dissertation on -the Epistles of Phalaris, Themistocles, &c. and the fables of -Æsop.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> Manilius, describing the subjects of Hesiod, has a line</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Atque iterum patrio nascentem corpore Bacchum,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">excellently rendered by Creech, a translator now too fastidiously -undervalued,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And twice-born Bacchus burst the Thunderer’s thigh:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">but this tale, which Ovid and Nonnus have related, is not found -in the present theogony.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> In the same poem, which is a love-elegy to his mistress Leontium -on the sufferings of lovers, Homer is made to visit Ithaca, -“sighing like furnace” for the chaste Penelope.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> The Quarterly Reviewer, in his critique on my “Specimens -of the Classic Poets,” conceives it strange that I should prefer -the Medea of Apollonius to Virgil’s Dido; and talks of critical -heresies. The deliberation of Medea on her purposed suicide, -and her interview with Jason in the temple of Hecate, place the -matter beyond all question; except with those who may be -frightened by the word <i>heresy</i> into a surrender of their judgments -to vulgar prejudice and traditional error.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> This fine natural image is ridiculously parodied by Addison, -“The old men, too, <i>are bitterly pinched by the weather</i>.” Essay -on Virgil’s Georgics.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> These were excluded from the first edition of my translation, -but are now reinstated, as curiously illustrative of manners.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lx"></a>[lx]</span></p> - -<h3 class="nobreak" id="SECTION_IV">SECTION IV.<br /> -<span class="smaller">ON THE MYTHOLOGY OF HESIOD.</span></h3> - -</div> - -<p>Diogenes Laertius mentions that Pythagoras -feigned to have seen the soul of Hesiod in the -infernal regions, bound to a brazen pillar, and howling -in torture for his false representations of the -Deities: and that of Homer environed with serpents -for the same reason. Plato, in a similar feeling, -excluded both these poets from his ideal republic. -It seems strange that the philosophers should have -failed to perceive that Hesiod and Homer repeated -merely the popular legends of their age; as is abundantly -evident from the style and manner of narration -and allusion throughout their poems.</p> - -<p>The following passage of Herodotus has been construed -to mean that they were the absolute inventors -of the Grecian theology; “Whence each of the -Gods came; whether all have continually existed, or -what figures they severally had, was known but -lately; or, if I may so speak, only yesterday; for I -am of opinion that Hesiod and Homer were older -than myself by four hundred years, and not more;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxi"></a>[lxi]</span> -these are they who framed a theogony for the -Greeks, and gave titles to the gods; distinguishing -their honours and functions, and describing their -forms.”</p> - -<p>Against such an hypothesis several reasons obviously -present themselves: 1st, A plurality of gods could -scarcely be the production of a single age, much less -of one or two individuals: 2dly, It is not likely that -Greece, which was visited by Ægyptian and Phœnician -colonists at an æra long antecedent to the -age of Homer, should have been destitute of a religious -system: 3dly, It is not credible that a whole -nation, at the suggestion of one or two bards, should -have abandoned this received system in order to adopt -a whole hierarchy of divinities, of whom they had -never before heard.</p> - -<p>But the doubt of Herodotus, “whether they have -continually existed,” shows that he merely considered -Hesiod and Homer in the light of collectors and -illustrators of the ancient religion of their country; -and Wesseling accordingly interprets ποιησαντες as -referring to arrangement and description, not invention. -This stupid inference could in fact never have -been drawn, had Herodotus been compared with -himself: as in a preceding passage he says, “Nearly -all the names of the gods have come into Greece from -Ægypt; for I have ascertained it to be a fact that -they are of barbaric extraction.”</p> - -<p>Herodotus, however, seems to have been in error,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxii"></a>[lxii]</span> -even as to this position of Hesiod and Homer having -first digested the mythology of Greece into a system: -and as he could not be ignorant that theogonies were -ascribed to poets reputed their elders, such as Musæus -and Orpheus, he was reduced to the alternative -of making these poets their juniors. “Those poets,” -he observes, “who were said to be before them, -were in my opinion after them.”</p> - -<p>But Cicero (in Bruto, cap. xviii.) sensibly argues, -“nor can it be doubted that there were poets before -Homer; which may be inferred from the songs described -by him as sung in the banquets of the Phæacians -and the suitors.” Fabricius makes a comment, -that “it cannot be proved from this, that Greek -poems, before Homer, were committed to writing, -and so handed down to posterity.” As if the poems -of Homer himself had been transmitted in any -other manner than by oral tradition!<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> - -<p>The pre-existence of religious rites seems, indeed, -to involve that of poetical cosmogonies and mythological -hymns. Before the invention of letters there -was no other traditionary record, or vehicle of popular<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxiii"></a>[lxiii]</span> -instruction, or organ of religious homage and -supplication, than verse: the conclusion follows that -there were both poets anterior to the age of Homer,<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> -and that these poets were also mythologists.</p> - -<p>Pausanias mentions Olen of Lycia; who, he says, -composed very ancient hymns; and who in his hymn -to Lucina, makes her the mother of Love: and he -names Pamphus and Orpheus, as succeeding Olen, -and as also composing hymns to the mythological -Love.</p> - -<p>The doubt entertained by Aristotle and Cicero -of the personal existence of Orpheus, neither affects -the antiquity of the name, nor of that system of -theology which bears the title of Orphic. The relics -now extant under that name have, indeed, been -suspected as the forgeries of Onomacritus, the sooth-sayer, -who produced the hymns to the people of -Athens: but Gesner is of opinion that he only altered -the dialect of genuine Orphic remains, on which -he ingrafted his own additions. The fragments which -have come down to us appear certainly from internal -evidence to contain a theology more ancient than that -of Hesiod and Homer; for the nearer it approaches<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxiv"></a>[lxiv]</span> -in any of its parts to the religious system of the -Ægyptians, the stronger is the presumptive testimony -of its antiquity.</p> - -<p><a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>The Ægyptians held that the world was produced -from Chaos, or Water. They worshipped the Sun, -as Osiris, Hammon, and Horus; the Moon, as Isis; -the Cabiri or Planets, as symbols of invisible divinities. -They had two systems of worship; the one -exoteric or popular, the other esoteric or mystical. -The adoration of the celestial bodies was literal with -the people, and emblematical with the priesthood. -They supposed emanations from divinity to be resident -in the parts of nature; and thus that the sun, -moon, and stars, and the other bodies of the universe, -were animated with a divine spirit or virtue; or -retained portions of a divine essence from good demons -or genii, who dwelt in them: these dæmons had been -inclosed in the bodies of virtuous men; and having -left them, passed into the stars and planets, which -were consequently worshipped as gods. Hence probably -the legend of Hesiod, who supposes the spirits -of men in the golden age to become holy dæmons; -though these dæmons are not sent to the stars, but -hover round the earth and keep watch over the actions -of humankind.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxv"></a>[lxv]</span></p> - -<p>Jablonski, in his Pantheon Ægyptiorum, considers -this stellar theology as resolvable into an astronomical -and Niliacal idolatry. The terrestrial Osiris is the -Nile: the celestial Osiris the Sun, in his zodiacal -progress through the signs that preside over the seasons. -Amon, Jupiter, designates the Sun in the -constellation of Aries. In the vernal equinox he is -Hercules, in the summer solstice Horus or Apollo, -in the winter solstice Harpocrates. Serapis was the -Nile in its period of fertilization, or the autumnal -Sun of the lower hemisphere. Isis was the moon, -the mother of multiform nature; the same also as -Neitha or Minerva, and the causer of the Nile’s inundations. -Tithrambo, Brimo, or Hecate, was Isis -incensed, or the maleficent moon. Bubastis, Diana, -or Latona, was the titular symbol of the New Moon, -and Buto or Latona of the full. The Cabiri, or -Seven Planets, were worshipped as appendants of -the greater gods; thus the planet Venus was the star -of Isis, and the planet Jupiter the star of Osiris. -The dog-headed Anubis, or Mercury, was the celestial -horizon, the guard of the Sun’s gate, and the -follower of Isis or the Moon. The bull Apis was -a living symbol of the Nile; but was supposed to -have been generated in a heifer by the transmission -of celestial fire from the Moon; and was sacred both -to that planet and to the Sun. A living goat was -the symbol of Mendes or Pan; the generative principle -of all nature. These animal types were multiplied;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxvi"></a>[lxvi]</span> -thus a lion figured the Sun; a cow, Isis and -Venus; and a hawk, Osiris. Stones were also made -typical. An obelisk represented the Sun; and seven -columns, such as Pausanias saw in Laconia, the -Planets. They worshipped also Night, the supposed -creative principle of all things, as Athor, Venus,<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> -or Juno; and Pthas, the Vulcan as well as Minerva -of the Grecians; the masculo-feminine cause and -soul of the world; a pervading infinite spirit, or subtile -ethereal fire, superior to the solar and planetary -orbs; from which emanated terrestrial souls, and to -which they returned. This system may very well be -reconciled with the received theology; as it is not at -all improbable that the subtile and scientific Ægyptians -should have refined upon their original emblems, -by connecting with them a secondary astronomical signification. -In the explication of certain terms, and the -identity and nature of many of the deities, the “Ægyptian -Pantheon” agrees with the “New Analysis.”</p> - -<p>Proclus (in Timæum, book i.) mentions a statue -of Neitha or Minerva in a temple at Sais, in Ægypt, -inscribed on the base with hieroglyphical characters -to this effect: “I am whatever things are, whatever -shall be, and whatever have been. None have lifted -up my veil. The fruit which I have brought forth<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxvii"></a>[lxvii]</span> -is the Sun.” Notwithstanding the mixed planetary -worship, the Sun was considered by the Ægyptians -as the king and architect of the universe: who under -the name of Osiris comprehended in himself the -power and efficacy of all the other material gods. -Consistent with this is the Orphic fragment:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Hear me thou! for ever whirling round the rolling heavens on high</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy far-travelling orb of splendour midst the whirlpools of the sky:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hear, effulgent Jove and Bacchus! father both of earth and sea!</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sun</span> all-various! golden-beaming! all things teeming out of thee!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In another passage Orpheus identifies with the sun -the different deities.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">One</span> Jove and Pluto; Bacchus, and the <span class="smcap">Sun</span>;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One God alike in all, and all are <span class="smcap">one</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The cosmogonists of Ægypt represented the Demiurgus -or Universal Maker, in a human form, sending -forth from his mouth an egg; which egg was the -world. They called him Kneph; who was the same -as Pthas, the essential pervading energy. Chaos is -described by Orpheus, in the manner of Ovid, as -an immense, self-existent, heterogeneous mass; neither -luminous nor tenebrous; which in the lapse of -ages generated an egg; and from this egg was produced -a masculo-feminine principle, which disposed -the elements, and created the forms of nature. A -primæval water or Chaos, and a mundane egg, are -found also in the mythology of India.</p> - -<p>In the cosmogonic system of Ægypt the world was -Deity, and its parts other gods; a doctrine equivalent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxviii"></a>[lxviii]</span> -to the το πᾶν of the Stoics; the inherent divinity of -the universe; which Lucan seems to intend in the -sentiment of Cato:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Deus est quodcunque vides: quòcunque moveris.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Whate’er we see, where’er we move, is God.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This system is unfolded in the Orphic hymns:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Jove is the breath of all: the force of quenchless flame:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The root of ocean Jove: the sun and moon the same:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Jove is the king, the sire, whence generation sprang:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One strength, one Dæmon, great, on whom all beings hang:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His regal body grasps the vast material round:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There fire, earth, air, and wave, and day and night, are found.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The same physico-theology appears in the Orphean -verses,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I swear by those, the generating powers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whence sprang the gods that have eternal being;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fire, Water, Earth, and Heaven, the Moon and Sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Great Love effulgent, and the sable Night!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">and in another fragment, preserved by Eusebius: -(Præparat. Evang. iii. 9.)</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Fire, water, earth, and ether, night and day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Metis, first sire, and all-delighting Love.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Metis is Minerva or Vulcan, the mind of the universe -already noticed.</p> - -<p>From a general view of the Ægyptian and Orphic -theogonies, they would appear to consist in an -atheistic materialism; for although they acknowledge -a certain divine, or active, principle pervading and -animating passive matter, nothing can be inferred<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxix"></a>[lxix]</span> -from this, superior to a physical operative energy. -Jablonski indeed contends that, exclusive of the -worship of the signs of the zodiac, and the solar and -lunar phenomena, the more ancient Ægyptians recognized -an <i>intelligent</i> power, or infinite Eternal Mind, -on whose wisdom the operations of the <i>sensible</i> or -visible divinities depended. But it may be doubted -whether this controlling intelligence were any thing -different from the before described emanation of the -supposed ethereal spirit of holy dæmons, or deified -men.</p> - -<p>Hesiod begins his poem on the generation of the -gods with certain cosmogonical principles. Chaos -first exists; then Earth; and thirdly Love. Erebus -and Night spring from Chaos, and generate Ether -and Day; and Earth produces Heaven. But we -search in vain through the rest of the work for the -subtile intelligence of the Orphic philosophy. It has -been attempted, indeed, to reduce the whole into -a consistent scheme of theogonic physiology, by -allegorizing the supernatural battles into volcanic -eruptions, hurricanes, and earthquakes; but much -would still remain incapable of being wrested to a -physical sense. On certain crude principles of cosmogonical -tradition, and lineal generations of gods, -intermingled with the generation of the world, the -theogonist has ingrafted ancient legendary histories, -and poetical and moral allegories. The historical -mythology is alone significant; for every thing respecting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxx"></a>[lxx]</span> -the nature of the gods was in Hesiod’s time -perverted and misunderstood. The bard was no -longer clothed in the robe of the hierophant.</p> - -<p>Very different hypotheses have been framed to explain -the Greek polytheism. They have failed <i>because</i> -they were hypotheses. When the Abbé Banier<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> detects -the real characters of profane history in the -gods of the Pantheon; and when De Gebelin<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> sees -in them only emblematical shadows, personifying the -successive inventions of the sciences and arts, we are -reminded of the observation of Dr. Reid; (Essays on -the Intellectual Powers of Man:) “that there never -was an hypothesis invented by an ingenious man, -which although destitute of direct evidence, did not -serve to account for a variety of phenomena, and -had not therefore an indirect evidence in its favour.” -Even the Alchemists have laid claim to the heathen -mythology; the pagan stories have been analysed into -chemical arcana: the golden fleece becomes a recipe -for the discovery of the philosopher’s stone inscribed -on a ram’s-skin, and Medea restores her father to life -by means of the grand elixir.<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> - -<p>But it were an unreasonable scepticism to argue -from these visionary theories, that the ancient fabulous -philosophy is a mass of inscrutable and unmeaning -superstition. The affinity between the different<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxxi"></a>[lxxi]</span> -systems of paganism rests on irrefutable proof.<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> This -affinity points to a common origin. The light of -history directs us to Ægypt. The astronomical -genius of that nation led them to symbolize their -idols by the celestial signs. These idols were the -deified memories of men. As to their individuality, -we are assisted by certain resemblances in heathen -theology to Mosaic scripture. This parallel may -have been urged too closely and too fancifully; as by -Huet, in his “Demonstratio Evangelica:” who -affirms that all the deities of the Ægyptians, Indians, -Americans, Greeks, and Italians, are only Moses in -disguise; and by Theophilus Gale, in his “Court -of the Gentiles;” who draws a parallel between the -god Pan, and the Messias, Abel, and Israel; and -who derives not only both the mythic or fabulous, -and the physical theology of the heathens, but all -human letters and sciences from the Hebrew language -and scriptures, and the philosophies of -Joseph, Moses, and Solomon. Mistakes may have -arisen from trusting too much to a specious analogy; -as where Tubal-cain, the artificer of brass and iron, -is identified with Vulcan.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> The conjectures of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxxii"></a>[lxxii]</span> -Hebraic etymologists, also, as of Bochart, in the -Phaleg and Canaan of his Geographia sacra, must<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxxiii"></a>[lxxiii]</span> -be acknowledged to be often vague and inconclusive. -But so plain are the general traces of corrupted -scripture-history, that Celsus, in his books against -the Christians, attacks the biblical records as plagiarisms -from the pagan mythology; and asserts that -Paradise is borrowed from the gardens of Alcinous, -and the flood of Noah from that of Deucalion; which -Origen refutes by the greater antiquity of the Jewish -traditions.</p> - -<p>It is not to be supposed that they, who trace these -parallels of mythology with scripture, mean that -scripture was its immediate source: as the French -Encyclopædists seem to think, when they ridicule the -idea of the Grecian poets having deduced their fables -from the Mosaic books, of which they knew nothing. -The religious separation of the Jews renders it improbable, -that even the intellectual philosophy of the -Greek sages, as Thales and Pythagoras, should have -been indebted for the idea of pure incorporeal deity -to the sacred oracles: though Dr. Anderson conceives -it probable that “the Mosaic scriptures, and -other prophetical writings under the Jewish dispensation, -could not be unknown to the priests of Ægypt, -Chaldæa, and other adjacent countries.” History of -Philosophy, p. 88.</p> - -<p>But the improbability is greatly increased with respect<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxxiv"></a>[lxxiv]</span> -to the mythological philosophy; nor is it credible -that the circumstances of pagan story, on the -supposition of their representing the same events as -those recorded in the book of Genesis, should have -been transferred immediately from the volume of -Moses by poets or philosophers into the popular religion. -Nations do not borrow vast systems of theology -from poets or even from priests. Gale does not -suppose that priests or bards imported the Hebrew -accounts from the sacred writings; but that they were -learnt, through international communication with the -Jews, by the Phœnicians; who, in their various nautical -enterprizes, carried them to distant countries.</p> - -<p>But the temple of heathen mythology rests its -pillars in the two hemispheres, and overshadows -climes unvisited by the navigators of Phœnicia. Its -basis must, apparently, be sought without the circle -of Jewish report and scripture, in ancient gentile tradition. -Stillingfleet convincingly argues, that, assuming -the descent of mankind from the posterity of -Noah, the obliteration and extinction of all remnants -of oral history concerning the ancient world is utterly -inconceivable. He proceeds to show that such fragments -were, in fact, so preserved in many nations -after the dispersion; that they were appropriated by -the Phœnicians, Greeks, Italians, and others to their -respective countries; and that portions of Noah’s -memory, in particular, were retained in many fables -under Saturn, Janus, Prometheus, and Bacchus.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxxv"></a>[lxxv]</span></p> - -<p>Similar to this is the outline of the Analytic System; -in which, however, the dæmon-worship of the patriarchs -of mankind is connected with the arkite and -ophite idolatry under the types of the sun and moon. -The affinities in the pagan sister-mythologies are explained -by the general dissemination of these idolatrous -mysteries, and the traditions which they were -designed to commemorate, through the dispersion of -a peculiar people in the early ages; migrating from a -central point, and spreading through the extremest -regions of the east and west.</p> - -<p>“This wonderful people were the descendants of -Chus; and called Cuthites and Cuseans. They stood -their ground at the general migration of families, but -were at last scattered over the face of the earth. They -were the first apostates from the truth, yet great in -worldly wisdom. They introduced, wherever they -came, many useful arts, and were looked up to as a -superior order of beings. They were joined in their -expeditions by other nations; especially by the collateral -branches of their family; the Mizraim, Caphtorim, -and the sons of Canaän. These were all of -the line of Ham, who was held by his posterity in -the highest veneration. They called him Amon; and -having in process of time raised him to a divinity, -they worshipped him as the Sun; and from this worship -they were called Amonians. Under this denomination -are included all of this family; whether they -were Ægyptians or Syrians, of Phœnicia or of Canaän.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_lxxvi"></a>[lxxvi]</span> -They were a people who carefully preserved -memorials of their ancestors, and of those great events -which had preceded their dispersion. These were described -in hieroglyphics on pillars and obelisks.</p> - -<p>“The deity whom they originally worshipped was -the Sun; but they soon conferred his titles upon -some other of their ancestors; whence arose a mixed -worship. Chus was one of these; and the idolatry -began among his sons. The same was practised by -the Ægyptians; but this nation made many subtile -distinctions; and supposing that there were certain -emanations of divinity, they affected to particularize -each by some title, and to worship the deity by his -attributes. This gave rise to a multiplicity of gods. -The Grecians, who received their religion from -Ægypt and the East, misapplied the terms which -they had received, and made a god out of every title.” -<i>Preface to the Analysis of Ancient Mythology.</i></p> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> We know from Homer (Il. vi.) that when Prætus sent Bellerophon -to the king of Lycia he gave him, not a written letter, but -σηματα λυγρα, <i>mournful signs</i>; (probably like the picture-writing -of the Mexicans:) writing could not be common till many centuries -afterwards, since the first written laws were given in -Greece only six centuries B. C. (Herod. lib. ii. Strab. lib. vi.) -<span class="smcap">Dr. Gillies.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> “The Trœzenian histories,” observes Ælian, book xi. ch. 2, -“relate that the poems of Oræbantius, a native of Trœzene, -were in existence before Homer; and I know they affirm that -Dares the Phrygian, whose Iliad is even now extant, lived -before Homer’s time. Melisander, the Milesian, likewise, composed -the battle of the Lapithæ and the Centaurs.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> Brucker, Historia Critica Philosophiæ, tom. i. Homer represents -father Oceanus as the generator of all things: and the -Chaos of Hesiod is merely the watery element.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> So Orpheus:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Night</span>, source of all things, whom we <span class="smcap">Venus</span> name.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Night and Chaos, or the aqueous mass, seem reciprocally considered -as the source of nature.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> La Mythologie, ou la Fable expliquée par l’Histoire.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> Monde Primitif.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> Wotton’s Reflections on ancient and modern Learning.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> See Sir William Jones’s Dissertation on the Gods of Greece, -Italy, and India.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> The working of metals was not among the ancient attributes -of Vulcan: but a diversity of character or attributes is not -always an objection. Each god had not only a twofold nature, -celestial, and human or heroical, but his history and qualities -changed with change of place. Thus Hercules was the Sun; he -was also a vagabond hero; but he may have been one person in -Greece, and another in Phœnicia. Gerard Vossius, in his -treatise “de Origine et Progressu Idolatriæ,” may therefore be -right in his conjecture, that among the Phœnicians both Joshua -and Samson were commemorated in the Tyrian Hercules. Bacchus -was the Sun, and an Indian conqueror. His history also assimilates -with that of Noah. He was likewise in all probability -Caphtor, the grandson of Ham; the great Ægyptian warrior who -dispossessed the Avim of that part of the land of Canaan, afterwards -called Philistia. (See Priestley’s Lectures on History, i. 5.) -But it is natural that the Phœnicians, who visited Greece when -the memory of Moses was still vivid among the Canaanites, -should have brought with them miraculous reports of the Jewish -lawgiver, which were added to the history of Bacchus. Bacchus -is called by Orpheus, Μισης; and by Plutarch (de Iside et Osiride) -Palæstinus. Bacchus was exposed in an ark upon a river: a -double coincidence with Noah and Moses, which is exactly in the -spirit of the old mythologists. Nonnus, in his Dionysiacs, mentions -the flight of Bacchus to the red sea, and his battles with -the Princes of Arabia; and relates that he touched the rivers -Orontes and Hydaspes with his thyrsus, and that the rivers dried -up, and he passed through dry-shod. The Indians are in darkness, -while the Bacchic army are in light. The ivy-rod of Bacchus -is thrown on the ground, and creeps to and fro like a live -serpent. Snakes twist themselves about the hair and limbs of -Bacchus; which may be a shadow of the fiery serpents in the -wilderness. The host of Bacchus, like the multitude led by -Moses, is accompanied by women. One of the Bacchæ touches -a rock, and water gushes out; at another time wine and honey; -and the rivers run with milk. These circumstances are very remarkable. -See Stillingfleet, Origines Sacræ, ch. v. Nonnus, Dionysiacs.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_WORKS_AND_DAYS">The Works and Days.</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span></p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">THE WORKS AND DAYS.</h2> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<h3>The Argument.</h3> - -<p>The poem comprehends the general œconomy of industry and -morals. In the first division of the subject, the state of the -world, past and present, is described; for the purpose of exemplifying -the condition of human nature: which entails on -man the necessity of exertion to preserve the goods of life; -and leaves him no alternative but honest industry or unjust -violence; of which the good and evil consequences are respectively -illustrated. <span class="smcap">Two Strifes</span> are said to have been sent -into the world, the one promoting dissension, the other emulation. -Perses is exhorted to abjure the former and embrace -the latter; and an apposite allusion is made to the circumstance -of his litigiously disputing the patrimonial estate, of -which, through the corruption of the judges, he obtained the -larger proportion. The judges are rebuked, and cheap contentment -is apostrophized as the true secret of happiness. -Such is stated to have been the original sense of mankind -before the necessity of labour existed. The origin of labour -is deduced from the resentment of Jupiter against Prometheus; -which resentment led to the formation of <span class="smcap">Pandora</span>: or -<span class="smcap">Woman</span>: who is described with her attributes, and is represented -as bringing with her into the world a casket of diseases. -The degeneracy of man is then traced through successive ages. -The three first ages are severally distinguished as the golden, -the silver, and the brazen. The fourth has no metallic distinction, -but is described as the heroic age, and as embracing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span> -the æra of the Trojan war. The fifth is styled the iron age, -and, according to the Poet, is that in which he lives. The -general corruption of mankind in this age is detailed, and -Modesty and Justice are represented taking their flight to heaven. -A pointed allusion to the corrupt administration of the -laws, in his own particular instance, is introduced in a fable, -typical of oppression. Justice is described as invisibly following -those who violate her decrees with avenging power, and -as lamenting in their streets the wickedness of a corrupted -people. The temporal blessings of an upright nation are contrasted -with the temporal evils which a wicked nation draws -down from an angry Providence. Holy Dæmons are represented -as hovering about the earth, and keeping watch over -the actions of men. Justice is again introduced, carrying her -complaints to the feet of Jupiter, and obtaining that the crimes -of rulers be visited on their people. A pathetic appeal is then -made to these rulers in their judicial capacity, urging them to -renounce injustice. After some further exhortations to virtue -and industry, and a number of unconnected precepts, the -Poet enters on the <span class="smcap">Georgical</span> part of his subject: which -contains the prognostics of the seasons of agricultural labour, -and rules appertaining to wood-felling, carpentry, ploughing, -sowing, reaping, threshing, vine-dressing, and the vintage. -This division of the subject includes a description of winter -and of a repast in summer. He then treats of navigation: -and concludes with some desultory precepts of religion, moral -decorum, and superstition: and lastly, with a specification of -<span class="smcap">Days</span>: which are divided into holy, auspicious, and inauspicious: -mixed and intermediary: or such as are entitled to no -remarkable observance.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span></p> - -<h3>WORKS.</h3> - -<h4>I.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Come, Muses! ye, that from Pieria raise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The song of glory, sing your father’s praise.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By Jove’s high will th’ unknown and known of fame</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Exist, the nameless and the fair of name.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis He with ease <a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a>the bowed feeble rears,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And casts the mighty from their highest spheres:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">With ease of human grandeur shrouds the ray:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With ease on abject darkness pours the day:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Straightens the crooked: grinds to dust the proud;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thunderer on high, whose dwelling is the cloud.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now bend thine eyes from heaven: behold and hear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rule thou the laws in righteousness and fear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While I to Perses’ heart would fain convey</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The truths of knowledge which inspire my lay.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Two <span class="smcap">Strifes</span> on earth of soul divided rove:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wise will this condemn and that approve:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Accursed the one spreads misery from afar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And stirs up discord and pernicious war:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Men love not this: yet heaven-enforced maintain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The strife abhorr’d, but still abhorr’d in vain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>The other elder rose from darksome night:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The God high-throned, who dwells in ether’s light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fix’d deep in earth, and centred midst mankind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This better strife, which fires the slothful mind.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The needy idler sees the rich, and hastes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Himself to guide the plough, and plant the wastes:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ordering his household: thus the neighbour’s eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mark emulous the wealthy neighbour rise:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneficent this strife’s incensing zeal:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The potters angry turn the forming wheel:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Smiths beat their anvils; <a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a>almsmen zealous throng,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And minstrels kindle with the minstrel’s song.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh Perses! thou within thy secret breast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Repose the maxims by my care imprest;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor ever let that evil-joying strife</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have power to wean thee from the toils of life;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The whilst thy prying eyes the forum draws,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thine ears the process, and the din of laws.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Small care be his of wrangling and debate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For whose ungather’d food the garners wait;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who wants within the summer’s plenty stored,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth’s kindly fruits, and Ceres’ yearly hoard.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With these replenish’d, at the brawling bar</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For others’ wealth go instigate the war.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But this thou mays’t no more: let justice guide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Best boon of heaven, and future strife decide.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not so we shared <a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a>the patrimonial land</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When greedy pillage fill’d thy grasping hand:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The bribe-devouring Judges lull’d by thee</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sentence gave and stamp’d the false decree:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh fools! who know not in their selfish soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How far the half is better than the whole:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a>The good which asphodel and mallows yield,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The feast of herbs, the dainties of the field!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a>The food of man in deep concealment lies:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The angry gods have hid it from our eyes.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Else had one day bestow’d sufficient cheer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, though inactive, fed thee through the year.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then might thy hand <a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a>have laid the rudder by,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In blackening smoke for ever hung on high;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Then had the labouring ox foregone the soil,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And patient mules had found reprieve from toil.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But Jove conceal’d our food: incensed at heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Since <a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a>mock’d by wise Prometheus’ wily art.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sore ills to man devised the heavenly Sire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hid the shining element of fire.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prometheus then, benevolent of soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In hollow reed the spark recovering stole;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cheering to man; and mock’d the god, whose gaze</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Serene rejoices in the lightning’s blaze.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Oh son of Japhet!” with indignant heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Spake the Cloud-gatherer: “oh, unmatch’d in art!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Exultest thou in this the flame retrieved,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dost thou triumph in the god deceived?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But thou, with the posterity of man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shalt rue the fraud whence mightier ills began:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I will send evil for thy stealthy fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>An ill which all shall love, and all desire.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Sire who rules the earth and sways the pole</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had said, and laughter fill’d his secret soul:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He bade famed Vulcan with the speed of thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mould plastic clay with tempering waters wrought:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inform with voice of man the murmuring tongue;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The limbs with man’s elastic vigour strung;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The aspect fair as goddesses above,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A virgin’s likeness with the brows of love.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He bade Minerva teach the skill, that sheds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A thousand colours in the gliding threads:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bade lovely Venus breathe around her face</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The charm of air, the witchery of grace:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Infuse corroding pangs of keen desire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cares that trick the form with prank’d attire:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bade Hermes last implant the craft refined</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of thievish manners and a shameless mind.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He gives command; th’ inferior powers obey:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The crippled artist moulds the temper’d clay:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By Jove’s design a maid’s coy image rose:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>The zone, the dress, Minerva’s hands dispose:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Adored Persuasion, and the Graces young,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a>With chains of gold her shapely person hung:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Round her smooth brow <a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a>the beauteous-tressed Hours</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A garland twined of spring’s purpureal flowers:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The whole, Minerva with adjusting art</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forms to her shape and fits to every part.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Last by the counsels of deep-thundering Jove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Argicide, <a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a>his herald from above,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Adds thievish manners, adds insidious lies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And prattled speech of sprightly railleries:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then by the wise interpreter of heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The name Pandora to the maid was given:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Since all in heaven conferr’d their gifts to charm,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For man’s inventive race, this beauteous harm.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When now the Sire had form’d this mischief fair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He bade heaven’s messenger convey through air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Epimetheus’ hands th’ inextricable snare:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor he recall’d within his heedless thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The warning lesson by Prometheus taught:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That he disclaim each present from the skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And straight restore, lest ill to man arise:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But he received; and conscious knew too late</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ insidious gift, and felt the curse of fate.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On earth of yore the sons of men abode,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From evil free and labour’s galling load:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Free from diseases that with racking rage</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Precipitate the pale decline of age.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now swift the days of manhood haste away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And misery’s pressure turns the temples gray.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The woman’s hands an ample casket bear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She lifts the lid; she scatters ills in air.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within <a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a>th’ unbroken vase Hope sole remained,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the vessel’s rim from flight detained:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The maid, by counsels of cloud-gathering Jove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The coffer seal’d and dropp’d the lid above.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Issued the rest in quick dispersion hurl’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And woes innumerous roam’d the breathing world:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With ills the land is rife, with ills the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Diseases haunt our frail humanity:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through noon, through night <a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a>on casual wing they glide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Silent, a voice the Power all-wise denied.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Thus mayst thou not elude th’ omniscient mind:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now if thy thoughts be to my speech inclin’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I in brief phrase would other lore impart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wisely and well: thou, grave it on thy heart.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When gods alike and mortals rose to birth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A golden race th’ immortals form’d on earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of many-languaged men: they lived of old</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When Saturn reign’d in heaven, an age of gold.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like gods they lived, with calm untroubled mind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Free from the toils and anguish of our kind:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor e’er decrepid age mishaped their frame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hand’s, the foot’s proportions still the same.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strangers to ill, their lives in feasts flow’d by:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>Wealthy in flocks; dear to the blest on high:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dying they sank in sleep, nor seem’d to die.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Theirs was each good; the life-sustaining soil</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yielded its copious fruits, unbribed by toil:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">They with abundant goods midst quiet lands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All willing shared the gatherings of their hands.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When earth’s dark womb had closed this race around,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a>High Jove as dæmons raised them from the ground.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth-wandering spirits they their charge began,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ministers of good, and guards of man.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mantled with mist of darkling air they glide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And compass earth, and pass on every side:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And mark with earnest vigilance of eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where just deeds live, or crooked wrongs arise:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a>Their kingly state; and, delegate from heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By their vicarious hands <a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a>the wealth of fields is given.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The gods then form’d a second race of man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Degenerate far; and silver years began.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unlike the mortals of a golden kind:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unlike in frame of limbs and mould of mind.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet still <a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>a hundred years beheld the boy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the mother’s roof, her infant joy;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All tender and unform’d: but when the flower</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of manhood bloom’d, it wither’d in an hour.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their frantic follies wrought them pain and woe:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor mutual outrage could their hands forego:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor would they serve the gods: nor altars raise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That in just cities shed their holy blaze.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Them angry Jove ingulf’d; who dared refuse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The gods their glory and their sacred dues:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet named the second-blest in earth they lie,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And second honours grace their memory.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">The Sire of heaven and earth created then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A race, the third of many-languaged men.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unlike the silver they: of brazen mould:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With ashen war-spears terrible and bold:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their thoughts were bent on violence alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The deeds of battle and the dying groan.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bloody their feasts, with wheaten food unblest:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of adamant was each unyielding breast.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Huge, nerved with strength each hardy giant stands,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And mocks approach with unresisted hands:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their mansions, implements, and armour shine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In brass; dark iron slept within the mine.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They by each other’s hands inglorious fell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In freezing darkness plunged, the house of hell:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fierce though they were, their mortal course was run;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Death gloomy seized, and snatch’d them from the sun.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Them when th’ abyss had cover’d from the skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! the fourth age on nurturing earth arise:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Jove form’d the race a better, juster line;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A race of heroes and of stamp divine:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lights of the age that rose before our own;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As demi-gods o’er earth’s wide regions known.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet these dread battle hurried to their end:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some where the seven-fold gates of Thebes ascend:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The Cadmian realm: where they with fatal might</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strove for the flocks of Œdipus in fight.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some war in navies led <a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a>to Troy’s far shore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er the great space of sea their course they bore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For sake of Helen with the beauteous hair:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And death for Helen’ sake o’erwhelm’d them there.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Them on earth’s utmost verge the god assign’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A life, a seat, distinct from human kind:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beside the deepening whirlpools of the main,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>In those blest isles where Saturn holds his reign,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Apart from heaven’s immortals: calm they share</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A rest unsullied by the clouds of care:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yearly thrice with sweet luxuriance crown’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Springs the ripe harvest from the teeming ground.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh would that Nature had denied me birth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Midst this fifth race; <a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a>this iron age of earth:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">That long before within the grave I lay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or long hereafter could behold the day!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Corrupt the race, with toils and griefs opprest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor day nor night can yield a pause of rest.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still do the gods a weight of care bestow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though still some good is mingled with the woe.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Jove on this race of many-languaged man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Speeds the swift ruin which but slow began:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a>For scarcely spring they to the light of day</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere age untimely strews their temples gray.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">No fathers in the sons their features trace:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sons reflect no more the father’s face:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The host with kindness greets his guest no more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And friends and brethren love not as of yore.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Reckless of heaven’s revenge, the sons behold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hoary parents wax too swiftly old:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And impious point the keen dishonouring tongue</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With hard reproofs and bitter mockeries hung:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor grateful in declining age repay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The nurturing fondness of their better day.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a>Now man’s right hand is law: for spoil they wait,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lay their mutual cities desolate:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unhonour’d he, by whom his oath is fear’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor are the good beloved, the just revered.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With favour graced the evil-doer stands,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor curbs with shame nor equity his hands:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">With crooked slanders wounds the virtuous man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And stamps with perjury what hate began.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! ill-rejoicing Envy, wing’d with lies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scattering calumnious rumours as she flies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The steps of miserable men pursue</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With haggard aspect, blasting to the view.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till those fair forms in snowy raiment bright</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a>Leave the broad earth and heaven-ward soar from sight:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Justice and Modesty from mortals driven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rise to th’ immortal family of heaven:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dread sorrows to forsaken man remain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No cure of ills: no remedy of pain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a>Now unto kings I frame the fabling song,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">However wisdom unto kings belong.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">A stooping hawk, crook-talon’d, from the vale</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bore in his pounce <a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a>a neck-streak’d nightingale,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And snatch’d among the clouds: beneath the stroke</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This piteous shriek’d, and that imperious spoke:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Wretch! why these screams? a stronger holds thee now:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where’er I shape my course a captive thou,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Maugre thy song, must company my way:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I rend my banquet or I loose my prey.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Senseless is he who dares with power contend:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Defeat, rebuke, despair shall be his end.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The swift hawk spake, with wings spread wide in air;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But thou to justice cleave, and wrong forbear.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wrong, if he yield to its abhorr’d controul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall pierce like iron in the poor man’s soul:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wrong weighs the rich man’s conscience to the dust,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When his foot stumbles on the way unjust:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far diff’rent is the path; a path of light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That guides the feet to equitable right.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The end of righteousness, enduring long,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Exceeds the short prosperity of wrong.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a>The fool by suffering his experience buys;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The penalty of folly makes him wise.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With crooked judgments, lo! the oath’s dread God</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Avenging runs, and tracks them where they trod:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rough are the ways of Justice as the sea;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dragg’d to and fro by men’s corrupt decree:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bribe-pamper’d men! whose hands perverting draw</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The right aside, and warp the wrested law.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though, while corruption on their sentence waits,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They thrust pale Justice from their haughty gates;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Invisible their steps the virgin treads,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And musters evils o’er their sinful heads.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She with the dark of air her form arrays</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And <a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a>walks in awful grief the city-ways:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Her wail is heard, her tear upbraiding falls</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a>O’er their stain’d manners, their devoted walls.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But they who never from the right have stray’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who as the citizen the stranger aid;</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a>They and their cities flourish: genial Peace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dwells in their borders, and their youth increase:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor Jove, whose radiant eyes behold afar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hangs forth in heaven the signs of grievous war.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor scathe nor famine on the righteous prey;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Feasts, strewn by earth, employ their easy day:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rich are their mountain oaks: the topmost trees</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With clustering acorns full, the trunks with hiving bees.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Burthen’d with fleece their panting flocks: the race</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of woman soft <a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a>reflects the father’s face:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Still flourish they, nor tempt with ships the main;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fruits of earth are pour’d from every plain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But o’er the wicked race, to whom belong</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The thought of evil, and the deed of wrong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Saturnian Jove of wide-beholding eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bids the dark signs of retribution rise:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft the crimes of one destructive fall:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The crimes of one are visited on all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The god sends down his angry plagues from high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Famine and pestilence: in heaps they die.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He smites with barrenness the marriage-bed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And generations moulder with the dead:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Again in vengeance of his wrath he falls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On their great hosts, and breaks their tottering walls:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arrests their navies on the ocean’s plain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And whelms their strength with mountains of the main.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ponder, oh judges! in your inmost thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The retribution by his vengeance wrought.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Invisible, the gods are ever nigh,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pass through the midst, and bend th’ all-seeing eye:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The men who grind the poor, who wrest the right,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Awless of heaven’s revenge, stand naked to their sight.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">For thrice ten thousand <a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a>holy demons rove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This breathing world, the delegates of Jove.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Guardians of man, <a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a>their glance alike surveys</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The upright judgments and th’ unrighteous ways.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A virgin pure is Justice: and her birth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">August, from him who rules the heavens and earth:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A creature glorious to the gods on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose mansion is yon everlasting sky.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Driven by despiteful wrong she takes her seat</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In lowly grief at Jove’s eternal feet.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">There of the soul unjust her plaints ascend:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a>So rue the nations when their kings offend:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When uttering wiles and brooding thoughts of ill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They bend the laws and wrest them to their will.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh gorged with gold! ye kingly judges hear!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Make straight your paths: your crooked judgments fear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That the foul record may no more be seen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Erased, forgotten, as it ne’er had been!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He wounds himself that aims another’s wound:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His evil counsels on himself rebound.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Jove at his awful pleasure looks from high</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With all-discerning and all-knowing eye;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor hidden from its ken what injured right</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within the city-walls eludes the light.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or oh! if evil wait the righteous deed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If thus the wicked gain the righteous meed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then may not I, nor yet my son remain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In this our generation just in vain!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But sure my hope, not this doth Heaven approve,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not this the work of thunder-darting Jove.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Deep let my words, oh Perses! graven be:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hear Justice, and renounce th’ oppressor’s plea:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This law the wisdom of the god assign’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To human race and to the bestial kind:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To birds of air and fishes of the wave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And beasts of earth, devouring instinct gave</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In them no justice lives: he bade be known</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This better sense to reasoning man alone.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who from the seat of judgment shall impart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The truths of knowledge utter’d from his heart;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On him the god of all-discerning eye</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a>Pours down the treasures of felicity.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who sins against the right, his wilful tongue</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With perjuries of lying witness hung;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! he is hurt beyond the hope of cure:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dark is his race, nor shall his name endure.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who fears his oath shall leave a name to shine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With brightening lustre through his latest line.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Most foolish Perses! let the truths I tell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which spring from knowledge, in thy bosom dwell:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! wickednesses rife in troops appear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a>Smooth is the track of vice, the mansion near:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On virtue’s path delays and perils grow:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The gods have placed before <a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a>the sweat that bathes the brow:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And ere the foot can reach her high abode,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Long, rugged, steep th’ ascent, and rough the road.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ridge once gain’d, the path so rude of late</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Runs easy on, and level to the gate.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Far best is he whom conscious wisdom guides;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who first and last the right and fit decides:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He too is good, that <a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a>to the wiser friend</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His docile reason can submissive bend:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But worthless he that reason’s voice defies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor wise himself, nor duteous to the wise.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But thou, oh Perses! what my words impart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let mem’ry bind for ever on thy heart.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a>Oh son of Dios! labour evermore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That hunger turn abhorrent from thy door;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">That Ceres blest, with spiky garland crown’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Greet thee with love and bid thy barns abound.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a>Still on the sluggard hungry want attends,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The scorn of man, the hate of heaven impends:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">While he, averse from labour, drags his days,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet greedy on the gain of others preys:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Even as the stingless drones devouring seize</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With glutted sloth the harvest of the bees.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love ev’ry seemly toil, that so the store</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of foodful seasons heap thy garner’s floor.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From labour men returns of wealth behold;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flocks in their fields and in their coffers gold:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From labour shalt thou with the love be blest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of men and gods; the slothful they detest.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not toil, but sloth shall ignominious be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Toil, and the slothful man shall envy thee;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall view thy growing wealth with alter’d sense,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For glory, virtue walk with opulence.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou, like a god, since labour still is found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The better part, shalt live belov’d, renown’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If, as I counsel, thou thy witless mind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though weak and empty as the veering wind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From others’ coveted possessions turn’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To thrift compel, and food by labour earn’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a>Shame, which our aid or injury we find,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shame to the needy clings of evil kind;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Shame to low indigence declining tends:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bold zeal to wealth’s proud pinnacle ascends.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a>But shun extorted riches; oh far best</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The heaven-sent wealth without reproach possest.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whoe’er shall mines of hoarded gold command,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By fraudful tongue or by rapacious hand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As oft betides when lucre lights the flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shamelessness expels the better shame;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Him shall the god cast down, in darkness hurl’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His name, his offspring wasted from the world:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The goods for which he pawn’d his soul decay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The breath and shining bubble of a day.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Alike the man of sin is he confest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a>Who spurns the suppliant and who wrongs the guest;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who climbs, by lure of stolen embraces led,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With ill-timed act, a brother’s marriage bed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who dares by crafty wickedness abuse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His trust, and robs the orphans of their dues;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who, on the threshold of afflictive age,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His hoary parent stings with taunting rage:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On him shall Jove in anger look from high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And deep requite the dark iniquity:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But wholly thou from these refrain thy mind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Weak as it is, and wavering as the wind.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With thy best means perform the ritual part,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Outwardly pure and spotless at the heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on thy altar let unblemish’d thighs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In fragrant savour to th’ immortals rise.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Or thou in other sort may’st well dispense</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wine-offerings and the smoke of frankincense,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere on the nightly couch thy limbs be laid;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or when the stars from sacred sun-rise fade.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So shall thy piety accepted move</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their heavenly natures to propitious love:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ne’er shall thy heritage divided be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But others part their heritage to thee.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let friends oft bidden to thy feast repair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let not a foe the social moment share.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Chief to thy open board the neighbour call:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When, unforeseen, domestic troubles fall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The neighbour runs ungirded; kinsmen wait,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, lingering for their raiment, hasten late.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As the good neighbour is our prop and stay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So is the bad a pit-fall in our way.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus blest or curs’d, we this or that obtain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The first a blessing and the last a bane.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How should thine ox by chance untimely die?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The evil neighbour looks and passes by.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a>If aught thou borrowest, well the measure weigh;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The same good measure to thy friend repay,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Or more, if more thou canst, unask’d concede,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So shall he prompt supply thy future need.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Usurious gains avoid; usurious gain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Equivalent to loss, will prove thy bane.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a>Who loves thee, love; him woo that friendly wooes:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Give to the giver, but to him refuse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That giveth not; their gifts the generous earn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But none bestows where never is return.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Munificence is blest: by heaven accurst</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Extortion, of death-dealing plagues the worst.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who bounteous gives though large his bounty flow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall feel his heart with inward rapture glow:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ extortioner of bold unblushing sin,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though small the plunder, feels a thorn within.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If with a little thou a little blend</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Continual, mighty shall the heap ascend.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who bids his gather’d substance gradual grow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall see not livid hunger’s face of woe.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No bosom-pang attends the home-laid store,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But rife with loss the food without thy door:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis good to take from hoards, and pain to need</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What is far from thee: give the precept heed.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When broach’d or at the lees, no care be thine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To save the cask, but <a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a>spare the middle wine.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To him the friend that serves thee glad dispense</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With bounteous hand the meed of recompense.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Not on a brother’s plighted word rely,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, <a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a>as in laughter, set a witness by;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mistrust destroys us and credulity.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let no fair woman tempt thy sliding mind</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a>With garment gather’d in a knot behind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She <a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a>prattling with gay speech inquires thy home;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But trust a woman, and a thief is come.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One only son his father’s house may tend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And e’en with one domestic hoards ascend:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then mayst thou leave a second son behind:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">For many sons from heaven shall wealth obtain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The care is greater, greater is the gain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Do thus: if riches be thy soul’s desire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By toils on toils to this thy hope aspire.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>II.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When, Atlas-born, the Pleiad stars <a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a>arise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before the sun above the dawning skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis time to reap; and when they sink below</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The morn-illumined west, <a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a>’tis time to sow.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Know too they set, immerged into the sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While forty days entire their circle run;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And with the lapse of the revolving year,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When sharpen’d is the sickle, re-appear.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Law of the fields, and known to every swain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who turns the fallow soil beside the main;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or who, remote from billowy ocean’s gales,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tills the rich glebe of inland-winding vales.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a>Plough naked still, and naked sow the soil,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And naked reap; if kindly to thy toil</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou hope to gather all that Ceres yields,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And view thy crops in season crown the fields;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest thou to strangers’ gates penurious rove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And every needy effort fruitless prove:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en as to me thou cam’st; but hope no more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That I shall give or lend thee of my store.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh foolish Perses! be the labours thine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which the good gods to earthly man assign;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest with thy spouse, thy babes, thou vagrant ply,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sorrowing crave those alms which all deny.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Twice may thy plaints benignant favour gain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And haply thrice may not be pour’d in vain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If still persisting plead thy wearying prayer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy words are nought, thy eloquence is air.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did exhortation move, the thought should be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From debt releasement, days from hunger free.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A house, a woman, and a steer provide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy slave to tend the cows, but not thy bride.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within let all fit implements abound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest with refused entreaty wandering round,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy wants still press, the season glide away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thou with scanted labour mourn the day.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy task defer not till the morn arise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or the third sun th’ unfinish’d work surprise.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a>The idler never shall his garners fill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor he that still defers and lingers still.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! diligence can prosper every toil;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The loiterer strives with loss and execrates the soil.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When rests the keen strength of th’ o’erpowering sun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From heat that made the pores in rivers run;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When rushes in fresh rains autumnal Jove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And man’s unburthen’d limbs now lightlier move;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For now the star of day with transient light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rolls o’er our heads and joys in longer night;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When from the worm the forest boles are sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a>Trees bud no more, but earthward cast around</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their withering foliage, then remember well</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The timely labour, and thy timber fell.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Hew from the wood <a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a>a mortar of three feet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Three cubits may the pestle’s length complete:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seven feet the fittest axle-tree extends;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If eight the log, the eighth a mallet lends.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cleave many curved blocks thy wheel to round,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And let three spans its outmost orbit bound;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whereon slow-rolling thy suspended wain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ten spans in breadth, may traverse firm the plain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If hill or field supply a holm-oak bough</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a>Of bending figure like the downward plough,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bear it away: this durable remains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While the strong steers in ridges cleave the plains:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">If with firm nails <a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a>thy artist join the whole,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Affix the share-beam, and adapt the pole.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Two ploughs provide, on household works intent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This art-compacted, that of native bent:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A prudent fore-thought: one may crashing fail,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The other, instant yoked, shall prompt avail.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of elm or bay the draught-pole firm endures,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The plough-tail holm, the share-beam oak secures.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Two males procure: be nine their sum of years:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then hale and strong for toil the sturdy steers:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor shall they headstrong-struggling spurn the soil,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And snap the plough and mar th’ unfinish’d toil.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In forty’s prime thy ploughman: one <a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a>with bread</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of four-squared loaf in double portions fed.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">He steadily shall cut the furrow true,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor towards his fellows glance a rambling view:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still on his task intent: a stripling throws</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heedless the seed, and in one furrow strows</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lavish handful twice: while wistful stray</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His longing thoughts to comrades far away.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mark yearly when among the clouds on high</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou hear’st <a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a>the shrill crane’s migratory cry,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a>Of ploughing-time the sign and wintry rains:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Care gnaws his heart who destitute remains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the fit yoke: for then the season falls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To feed thy horned steers within their stalls.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Easy to speak the word, “beseech thee friend!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy waggon and thy yoke of oxen lend:”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Easy the prompt refusal; “nay, but I</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have need of oxen, and their work is nigh.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a>Rich in his own conceit, he then too late</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May think to rear the waggon’s timber’d weight:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fool! nor yet knows the complicated frame</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A hundred season’d blocks may fitly claim:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a>These let thy timely care provide before,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pile beneath thy roof the ready store.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Improve the season: to the plough apply</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Both thou and thine; and toil in wet and dry:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Haste to the field with break of glimmering morn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That so thy grounds may wave with thickening corn.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In spring upturn the glebe: and break again</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With summer tilth the iterated plain,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">It shall not mock thy hopes: be last thy toil,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Raised in light ridge, to sow the fallow’d soil:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fallow’d soil bids execration fly,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And brightens with content the infant’s eye.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a>Jove subterrene, chaste Ceres claim thy vow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When grasping first the handle of the plough,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er thy broad oxen’s backs thy quickening hand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With lifted stroke lets fall the goading wand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst yoked and harness’d by the fastening thong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They slowly drag the draught-pole’s length along.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So shall the sacred gifts of earth appear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ripe luxuriance clothe the plenteous ear.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A boy should tread thy steps: with rake o’erlay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The buried seed, <a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a>and scare the birds away:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">(Good is the apt œconomy of things</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While evil management its mischief brings:)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus, if aërial Jove thy cares befriend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And crown thy tillage with a prosperous end,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall the rich ear in fulness of its grain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nod on the stalk and bend it to the plain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So shalt thou sweep the spider’s films away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That round thy hollow bins lie hid from day:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I ween, rejoicing in the foodful stores</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Obtain’d at length, and laid within thy doors:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For plenteousness shall glad thee through the year</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till the white blossoms of the spring appear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a>Nor thou on others’ heaps a gazer be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But others owe their borrow’d store to thee.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If, ill-advised, thou turn the genial plains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His wintry tropic when the sun attains;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou, then, may’st reap, and idle sit between:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mocking thy gripe the meagre stalks are seen:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst, little joyful, gather’st thou in bands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The corn whose chaffy dust bestrews thy hands.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In one scant basket shall thy harvest lie,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a>And few shall pass thee, then, with honouring eye.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now thus, now otherwise is Jove’s design;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To men inscrutable the ways divine:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But if thou late upturn the furrow’d field,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One happy chance a remedy may yield.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er the wide earth when men the cuckoo hear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From spreading oak-leaves first delight their ear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Three days and nights let heaven in ceaseless rains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep as thy ox’s hoof o’erflow the plains;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So shall an equal crop thy time repair</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With his who earlier launch’d the shining share.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lay all to heart: nor let the blossom’d hours</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of spring escape thee; nor the timely showers.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pass by <a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a>the brazier’s forge where loiterers meet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor saunter in the portico’s throng’d heat;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">When in the wintry season rigid cold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Invades the limbs and binds them in its hold.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! then th’ industrious man with thriving store</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Improves his household management the more:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And this do thou: lest intricate distress</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of winter seize, and needy cares oppress:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest, famine-smitten, thou, at length, be seen</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a>To gripe thy tumid foot with hand from hunger lean.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pampering his empty hopes, yet needing food,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On ill designs behold the idler brood:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sit in the crowded portico and feed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On that ill hope, while starving with his need.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou in mid-summer to thy labourers cry,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a>“Make now your nests,” for summer hours will fly.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Beware the January month: beware</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those hurtful days, that keenly piercing air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which flays the herds; <a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a>those frosts that bitter sheathe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The nipping air and glaze the ground beneath.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Thracia, nurse of steeds, comes rushing forth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er the broad sea, the whirlwind of the north,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And moves it with his breath: then howl the shores</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of earth, and long and loud the forest roars.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He lays the oaks of lofty foliage low,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tears the thick pine-trees from the mountains brow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And strews the vallies with their overthrow.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">He stoops to earth; shrill swells the storm around,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the vast wood rolls a deeper roar of sound.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The beasts their cowering tails with trembling fold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shrink and shudder at the gusty cold.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thick is the hairy coat, the shaggy skin,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But that all-chilling breath shall pierce within.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not his rough hide can then the ox avail:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The long-hair’d goat defenceless feels the gale:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet vain the north-wind’s rushing strength to wound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The flock, with thickening fleeces fenced around.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He bows the old man, crook’d beneath the storm;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But spares the smooth-skin’d virgin’s tender form.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a>Yet from bland Venus’ mystic rites aloof,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She safe abides beneath her mother’s roof:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The suppling waters of the bath she swims,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a>With shining ointment sleeks her dainty limbs:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In her soft chamber pillow’d to repose,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While through the wintry nights the tempest blows.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a>Now gnaws the boneless polypus his feet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Starved midst bleak rocks, his desolate retreat:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">For now no more the sun with gleaming ray</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through seas transparent lights him to his prey.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er the swarth Æthiop rolls his bright career,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And slowly gilds the Grecian hemisphere.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And now the horned and unhorned kind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose lair is in the wood, sore-famish’d grind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their sounding jaws, and froz’n and quaking fly</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where oaks the mountain dells imbranch on high:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They seek to couch in thickets of the glen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or lurk deep-shelter’d in the rocky den.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a>Like aged men who, prop’d on crutches, tread</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tottering with broken strength and stooping head,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">So move the beasts of earth; and creeping low</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shun the white flakes and dread the drifting snow.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I warn thee, now, around thy body cast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A thick defence, and covering from the blast:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let the soft cloak its woolly warmth bestow:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The under-tunic to thy ankle flow:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a>On a scant warp a woof abundant weave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus warmly wov’n the mantling cloak receive:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor shall thy limbs beneath its ample fold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With bristling hairs start shivering to the cold.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shoes from the hide of <a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a>a strong-dying ox</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bind round thy feet; lined thick with woollen socks:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a>And kid-skins ’gainst the rigid season sew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With sinew of the bull, and sheltering throw</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Athwart thy shoulders when the rains impend;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And let <a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a>a well-wrought cap thy head defend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And screen thine ears, while drenching showers descend.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Bleak is the morn, when blows the north from high;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft when the dawnlight paints the starry sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A misty cloud suspended hovers o’er</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heaven’s blessed earth with fertilizing store</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drain’d from the living streams: aloft in air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The whirling winds the buoyant vapour bear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Resolved at eve in rain or gusty cold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As by the north the troubled rack is roll’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Preventing this, the labour of the day</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Accomplish’d, homeward bend thy hastening way:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest the dark cloud, with whelming rush deprest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drench thy cold limbs and soak thy dripping vest.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This winter-month with prudent caution fear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Severe to flocks, nor less to men severe:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Feed thy keen husbandman with larger bread:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With half their provender thy steers be fed:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Them rest assists: the night’s protracted length</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Recruits their vigour and supplies their strength.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This rule observe, while still the various earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gives every fruit and kindly seedling birth:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Still to the toil proportionate the cheer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The day to night, and equalize the year.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When from <a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a>the wintry tropic of the sun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full sixty days their finish’d round have run,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! then the sacred deep Arcturus leave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">First whole-apparent on the verge of eve.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through the grey dawn the swallow lifts her wing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Morn-plaining bird, the harbinger of spring.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Anticipate the time: the care be thine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An earlier day to prune the shooting vine.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When the house-bearing snail is slowly found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To shun the Pleiad heats that scorch the ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And climb the plant’s tall stem, insist no more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To dress the vine, but give the vineyard o’er.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Whet the keen sickle, hasten every swain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From shady booths, from morning sleep refrain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now, in the fervour of the harvest-day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When the strong sun dissolves the frame away:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now haste a-field: now bind thy sheafy corn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And earn thy food by rising with the morn.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! the third portion of thy labour’s cares</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The early morn anticipating shares:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In early morn the labour swiftly wastes:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In early morn the speeded journey hastes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The time when many a traveller tracks the plain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the yoked oxen bend them to the wain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When <a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a>the green artichoke ascending flowers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When, in the sultry season’s toilsome hours,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perch’d on a branch, beneath his veiling wings</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a>The loud cicada shrill and frequent sings:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a>Then the plump goat a savoury food bestows,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The poignant wine in mellowest flavour flows:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Wanton the blood then bounds in woman’s veins,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a>But weak of man the heat-enfeebled reins:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full on his brain descends the solar flame</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unnerves the languid knees, and all the frame</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Exhaustive dries away: oh then be thine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To sit in shade of rocks; with <a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a>Byblian wine,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And goat’s milk, stinted from the kid, to slake</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy thirst, and eat the shepherd’s creamy cake;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The flesh of new-dropt kids and youngling cows,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, never teeming, cropp’d the forest browse.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With dainty food so saturate thy soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And drink the wine dark-mantling in the bowl:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While in the cool and breezy gloom reclined</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy face is turn’d to catch the breathing wind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And feel the freshening brook, whose living stream</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Glides at thy foot with clear and sparkling gleam:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Three parts its waters in thy cup should flow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fourth with brimming wine may mingled glow.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When first <a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a>Orion’s beamy strength is born,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let then thy labourers thresh the sacred corn:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Smooth be the level floor, <a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a>on gusty ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where winnowing gales may sweep in eddies round.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hoard in thy ample bins the meted grain:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And now, as I advise, <a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a>thy hireling swain</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">From forth thy house dismiss, when all the store</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of kindly food is laid within thy door:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And to thy service let a female come;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But childless, for a child were burthensome.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a>Keep, too, a sharp-tooth’d dog, nor thrifty spare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To feed his fierceness high with generous fare:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest the day-slumbering thief thy nightly door</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wakeful besiege, and pilfer from thy store.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For ox and mule the yearly fodder lay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within thy loft; the heapy straw and hay:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This care dispatch’d, refresh the bending knees</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of thy tired hinds, and give thy unyoked oxen ease.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">When Sirius and Orion the mid-sky</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ascend, and <a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a>on Arcturus looks from high</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rosy-finger’d morn, the vintage calls:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then bear the gather’d grapes within thy walls.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ten days and nights exposed the clusters lay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bask’d in the lustre of each mellowing day:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let five their circling round successive run,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst lie thy frails o’ershaded from the sun:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sixth in vats the gifts of Bacchus press;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Bacchus gladdening earth with store of pleasantness.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But when beneath the skies <a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a>on morning’s brink</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Pleiads, Hyads, and Orion sink;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Know then the ploughing and the seed-time near:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus well-disposed shall glide thy rustic year.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But if thy breast with nautical desire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The perilous deep’s uncertain gains inspire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When chased by strong Orion down the heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sink the seven stars in gloomy ocean driven;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a>Then varying winds in gustful eddies roar:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then to <a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a>black ocean trust thy ships no more:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But heedful care to this my caution yield,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, as I bid thee, labour safe the field.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hale on firm land the ship: with stones made fast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Against the staggering force of humid-blowing blast:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Draw from its keel the peg, lest rotting rain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Suck’d in the hollow of the hold remain:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within thy house the tackling order’d be.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And furl thy vessel’s wings that skimm’d the sea:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The well-framed rudder in the smoke suspend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And calm and navigable seas attend.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then launch the rapid bark: fit cargo load,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And freighted rich repass the liquid road.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh witness Perses! thus for honest gain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus did our mutual father plough the main.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Erst, from Æolian Cuma’s distant shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hither in sable ship his course he bore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through the wide seas his venturous way he took;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No rich revenues; prosperous ease forsook:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His wandering course from poverty began,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The visitation sent from heaven to man:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ascra’s sad hamlet he his dwelling chose</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where nigh impending Helicon arose:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a>In summer irksome and in winter drear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor ever genial through the joyless year.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Each labour, Perses! let the seasons guide:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But o’er thy navigation chief preside:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a>Decline a slender bark: intrust thy freight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To the strong vessel of a larger rate:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The larger cargo doubles every gain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let but the winds their adverse blasts restrain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If thy rash thoughts on merchandise be placed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest debts ensnare or joyless hunger waste,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Learn now the courses of the roaring sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though ships and voyages are strange to me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ne’er <a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a>o’er the sea’s broad way my course I bore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save once from Aulis to th’ Eubœan shore:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Aulis, where the Greeks in days of yore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The winds awaiting, kept the harbouring shore:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From sacred Greece a mighty army there</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lay bound for Troy, wide famed for women fair.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">I pass’d to Chalcis, where around the grave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of king Amphidamus, in combat brave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His valiant sons had solemn games decreed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And heralds loud proclaim’d full many a meed:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There, let me boast, that victor in the lay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I bore a tripod ear’d, my prize, away:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This to the maids of Helicon I vow’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a>Where first their tuneful inspiration flow’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus far in ships does my experience rise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet bold I speak the wisdom of the skies;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ inspiring Muses to my lips have given</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lore of song, and strains that breathe of heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a>When from the summer-tropic fifty days</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have roll’d, when summer’s time of toil decays:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Then is the season fair to spread the sail:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor then thy ship shall founder in the gale</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And seas o’erwhelm the crew: unless the Power,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who shakes the shores with waves, have will’d their mortal hour:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or he th’ immortals’ king require their breath,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose hands the issues hold of life and death</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For good and evil men: but now the seas</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are dangerless, and clear the calmy breeze.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then trust the winds, and let thy vessel sweep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With all her freight the level of the deep.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But rapidly retrace thy homeward way</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor till the season of new wine delay:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Late autumn’s torrent showers: bleak winter’s sweep:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The south-blast ruffling strong the tossing deep:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When air comes rushing in autumnal rain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And curls with many a ridge the troubled main.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a>Men, too, may sail in spring: when first the crow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Imprinting with light steps the sands below,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As many thinly-scatter’d leaves are seen</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To clothe the fig-tree’s top with tender green.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This vernal voyage practicable seems,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pervious are the boundless ocean-streams:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I praise it not: for thou with anxious mind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Must hasty snatch th’ occasion of the wind.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The drear event may baffle all thy care;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet thus, even thus, will human folly dare.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of wretched mortals lo! the soul is gain:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But death is dreadful midst the whelming main.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These counsels lay to heart; and, warn’d by me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Trust not thy whole precarious wealth to sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tost in the hollow keel: a portion send;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy larger substance let the shore defend.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wretched the losses of the ocean fall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When on a fragile plank embark’d thy all:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And wretched when thy sheaves o’erload the wain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the crash’d axle spoils the scatter’d grain.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The golden mean of conduct should confine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our every aim; be moderation thine.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Take to thy house a woman for thy bride</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When in the ripeness of thy manhood’s pride:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thrice ten thy sum of years; the nuptial prime;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor fall far short, nor far exceed the time.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Four years the ripening virgin should consume,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a>And wed the fifth of her expanded bloom.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A virgin choose: and mould her manners chaste:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Chief be some neighbouring maid by thee embraced:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Look circumspect and long: lest thou be found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The merry mock of all the dwellers round.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No better lot has Providence assign’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than a fair woman with a virtuous mind:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor can a worse befall, then when thy fate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Allots a worthless, feast-contriving mate:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She, with no torch of mere material flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall burn to tinder thy care-wasted frame:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a>Shall send a fire thy vigorous bones within,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And age unripe in bloom of years begin.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Th’ unsleeping vengeance heed of heaven on high.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">None as a friend should with a brother vie:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But if like him thou hold another dear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let no offences on thy side appear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a>Nor lie with idle tongue: if he begin</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Offence of word and deed, <a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a>chastise his sin</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Once for each act and word; but if he grieve,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And make atonement, straight his love receive:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wretched! his friends who changes to and fro!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let not thy face thy mind’s deep secrets show.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be not the host of many nor of none:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The good revile not, and the wicked shun.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a>Rebuke not want, that wastes the spirit dry;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It is the gift of blessed gods on high.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a>Lo! the best treasure is a frugal tongue:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lips of moderate speech with grace are hung:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The evil-speaker shall perpetual fear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Return of evil ringing in his ear.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a>When many guests combine in common fare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be not morose nor grudge thy liberal share:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">When all contributing the feast unite,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Great is the pleasure and the cost is light.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When the libation of the morn demands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sable wine, forbear with unwash’d hands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To lift the cup: with ear averted Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall spurn thy prayer, and every god above.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Forbear to let your water flow away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Turn’d upright tow’rds the sun’s all-seeing ray:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en when his splendour sets, till morn has glow’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Take heed; nor sprinkle, as you walk, the road,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor the road-side; nor bare affront the sight;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For there are gods who watch and guard the night.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The holy man discreet sits decently,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And to some sheep-fold’s fenced wall draws nigh.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From rites of love unclean the hearth forbear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor sit beside ungirt, for household gods are there.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Leave not the funeral feast to sow thy race;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From the gods’ banquet seek thy bride’s embrace.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whene’er thy feet the river-ford essay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose flowing current winds its limpid way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy hands amidst the pleasant waters lave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lowly gazing on the beauteous wave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Appease the river-god: if thou perverse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pass with unsprinkled hands, a heavy curse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall rest upon thee from th’ observant skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And after-woes retributive arise.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When in the fane <a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a>the feast of gods is laid,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a>Ne’er to thy five-branch’d hand apply the blade</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of sable iron; from the fresh forbear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dry excrescence at the board to pare.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ne’er let thy hand the wine-filled flaggon rest</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a>Upon the goblet’s edge; th’ unwary guest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May from thy fault his own disaster drink,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For evil omens lurk around the brink.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ne’er in the midst th’ unfinished house forego,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest there perch’d lonely croak the garrulous crow.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Ne’er from <a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a>unhallow’d vessels hasty feed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor lave therein; for thou mayst rue the deed.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Set not a twelve-day or a twelve-month boy</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a>On moveless stones; they shall his strength destroy.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ne’er in the female baths thy limbs immerse;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In its own time the guilt shall bring the curse.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ne’er let the mystic sacrifices move</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deriding scorn; but dread indignant Jove.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Ne’er with unseemly deeds the fountains stain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or limpid rivers flowing to the main.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Do thus: and still with all thy dint of mind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Avoid that evil rumour of mankind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Easy the burthen at the first to bear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And light when lifted as impassive air;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But scarce can human strength the load convey,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or shake th’ intolerable weight away.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swift rumour hastes nor ever wholly dies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But borne on nations’ tongues a very goddess flies.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3><i>DAYS.</i></h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy household teach a decent heed to pay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And well observe each Jove-appointed day.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a>The thirtieth of the moon inspect with care</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy servants’ tasks and all their rations share;</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a>What time the people to the courts repair.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">These days obey the all-wise Jove’s behest:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The first new moon, the fourth, the seventh is blest:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Phœbus, on this, from mild Latona born,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The golden-sworded god, beheld the morn.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The eighth, nor less the ninth, with favouring skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Speeds of th’ increasing month each rustic enterprise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on th’ eleventh let thy flocks be shorn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on the twelfth be reap’d thy laughing corn:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Both days are good: yet is the twelfth confest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More fortunate, with fairer omen blest.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">On this the air-suspended spider treads</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the full noon his fine and self-spun threads;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the wise emmet, tracking dark the plain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heaps provident the store of gather’d grain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On this let careful woman’s nimble hand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Throw first the shuttle and the web expand.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the thirteenth forbear to sow the grain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But then the plant shall not be set in vain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sixteenth profitless to plants is deem’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Auspicious to the birth of men esteem’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But to the virgin shall unprosperous prove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then born to light or join’d in wedded love.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So to the birth of girls with adverse ray</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sixth appears, an unpropitious day:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But then the swain may fence his wattled fold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cut his kids and rams; male births shall then be bold.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This day is fond of biting gibes and lies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And jocund tales and whisper’d sorceries.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cut on the eighth the goat and lowing steer</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hardy mule; and when the noon shines clear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seek on the twenty-ninth to sow thy race,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For wise shall be the fruit of thy embrace.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">The tenth propitious lends its natal ray</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To men, to gentle maids the fourteenth day:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tame too thy sheep on this auspicious morn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And steers of flexile hoof and wreathed horn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And labour-patient mules; and mild command</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy sharp-tooth’d dog with smoothly flattering hand.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fourth and twenty-fourth no grief should prey</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within thy breast, for holy either day.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fourth of the moon lead home thy blooming bride,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And be the fittest auguries descried.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a>Beware the fifth, with horror fraught and wo:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis said the furies walk their round below</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Avenging the dread oath; whose awful birth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From discord rose, to scourge the perjured earth.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">On the smooth threshing-floor, the seventeenth morn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Observant throw the sheaves of sacred corn:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For chamber furniture the timber hew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And blocks for ships with shaping axe subdue.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fourth upon the stocks thy vessel lay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soon with light keel to skim the watery way.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The nineteenth mark among the better days</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When past the fervour of the noon-tide blaze.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Harmless the ninth: ’tis good to plant the earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And fortunate each male and female birth.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Few know the twenty-ninth, nor heed the rules</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To broach their casks, and yoke their steers and mules,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And fleet-hoof’d steeds; and on dark ocean’s way</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Launch the oar’d galley; few will trust the day.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pierce on the fourth thy cask; the fourteenth prize</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As holy; and when morning paints the skies</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The twenty-fourth is best; (few this have known;)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But worst of days when noon has fainter grown.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">These are the days of which the careful heed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each human enterprise will favouring speed:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Others there are, which intermediate fall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mark’d with no auspice and unomen’d all:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And these will some, and those will others praise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But few are versed in mysteries of days.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In this a step-mother’s stern hate we prove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In that the mildness of a mother’s love.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh fortunate the man! oh blest is he,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who skill’d in these fulfils his ministry:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He to whose note the auguries are given,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No rite transgress’d, and void of blame to heav’n.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h3>FOOTNOTES</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> <i>The bowed feeble rears.</i>] This proem was wanting in the leaden-sheeted -copy, seen by Pausanias in Bœotia. The affinity with -scriptural language is remarkable. “The Lord maketh poor -and maketh rich: he bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up -the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dung-hill -to set him among princes.” Samuel v. 1, ch. 2. “God is the -judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. The -Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up them that be bowed -down. The Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked -down to the ground.” Psalms 75, 145, 147. I was originally -led to suspect that this introduction had been ingrafted on the -poem by one of the Alexandrian Jews; who were addicted to -this kind of imposture; but it is probably more ancient than the -establishment of the Jewish colony at Alexandria, under the -Ptolemies. There is nothing conclusive to be drawn from coincidences -of this sort between ancient writings. The first principles -of morality, implanted in the human heart by its author, -have in all ages been the same: and Socrates and Confucius -might be found to agree, surely without any suspicion of imitation. -Many passages of Hesiod may be paralleled with -verses in the Psalms and Proverbs: and in the proem under -consideration, there seem no grounds for the conjecture of -plagiarism from views of the vicissitudes of human condition, -and the ordinations of a ruling providence which are continually -passing before our eyes, and which must have struck the reasoning -and serious part of mankind in all ages. Horace has a similar -passage: b. i. od. 34.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The God by sudden turns of fate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can change the lowest with the loftiest state:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Eclipse of glory the diminish’d ray,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And lift obscurity to day.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Le Clerc conjectures this exordium to be the addition of one -of the rhapsodists: of whom Pindar says, Nem. Od. 2.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ Homeric bards, who wont to frame</div> - <div class="verse indent4">A motley-woven verse,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Ere they the song rehearse,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Begin from Jove, and prelude with his name.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> <i>The other elder rose.</i>] Night is meant to be the mother of both -the Strifes. Guietus remarks that ευφρονη is a term for night: -from ευφρονεω, to be wise. She was the mother of wise designs, -because favourable to meditation: the mother of good, therefore, -as well as of evil. The good Strife is made the elder, because -the evil one arose in the later and degenerate ages of mankind.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> <i>Almsmen zealous throng.</i>] The proximity of the beggar to the -bard might in a modern writer convey a satirical innuendo, of -which Hesiod cannot be suspected. The bard, as is evident from -Homer’s Odyssey, enjoyed a sort of conventional hospitality, -bestowed with reverence and affection. It should seem, however, -from this passage that the asker of alms was not regarded -in the light of a common mendicant with us. It was a popular -superstition that the gods often assumed similar characters for -the purpose of trying the benevolence of men. A noble incentive -to charity, which indicates the hospitable character of a -semi-barbarous age.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> <i>The patrimonial land.</i>] The manner of inheritance in ancient -Greece was that of gavelkind: the sons dividing the patrimony -in equal portions. When there were children by a concubine, -they also received a certain proportion. This is illustrated by a -passage in the 14th book of the Odyssey:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24">An humbler mate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His purchased concubine, gave birth to me:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">... His illustrious sons among themselves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Portion’d his goods by lot: to me indeed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They gave a dwelling, and but little more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> <i>The good which asphodel and mallows yield.</i>] A similar sentiment -occurs in the Proverbs: “Better is a dinner of herbs -where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” Ch. 15. -v. 17.</p> - -<p>Plutarch in the “Banquet of the Seven Sages,” observes, -that “the herb mallows is good for food, as is the sweet stalk of -the asphodel or daffodil.” These plants were often used by -metonymy for a frugal table. Homer (Odyssey 24.) places the -shades of the blessed in meadows of asphodel, because they -were supposed to be restored to the state of primitive innocence, -when men were contented with the simple and spontaneous aliment -of the ground. Perhaps the Greeks had this allusion -in their custom of planting the asphodel in the cemeteries, -and also burying it with the bodies of the dead. It appears -from Pliny, b. xxii. c. 22. that Hesiod had treated of the asphodel -in some other work: as he is said to have spoken of it as a -native of the woods.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> <i>The food of man in deep concealment lies.</i>] The meaning of -this passage resembles that of the passage in Virgil’s first -Georgic:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The sire of gods and men with hard decrees</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forbade our plenty to be bought with ease.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> <i>Have laid the rudder by.</i>] It seems the vice of commentators -to refine with needless subtleties on plain passages. Le Clerc -explains this to mean that “in one day’s fishing you might have -caught such an abundance of fish, as to allow of the rudder being -laid by for a long interval.” The common sense of the passage, -however, is that, were the former state of existence renewed, -the rudder, which it was customary after a voyage to hang up in -the smoke, might remain there for ever. You needed not have -crossed the sea for merchandise. The custom of suspending the -helms of ships in chimneys, to preserve them from decay, is adverted -to again among the nautical precepts.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The well-framed rudder in the smoke suspend.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Virgil recommends the same process with respect to the timber -hewn for the plough: Georg. 1.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hung where the chimney’s curling fumes arise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The searching smoke the harden’d timber dries.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> <i>Mock’d by wise Prometheus.</i>] The original deception which -provoked the wrath of Jupiter was the sacrifice of bones mentioned -in the Theogony.</p> - -<p>It would appear extraordinary that the crime of Prometheus, -who was a god, should be visited on man. This injustice betrays -the real character of Prometheus; that he was a deified -mortal. If Prometheus, the maker of man according to Ovid, -and his divine benefactor according to Hesiod, be in reality -Noah, as many circumstances concur to prove, the concealment -of fire by Jupiter might be a type of the darkness and dreariness -of nature during the interval of the deluge; and the recovery of -the flame might signify the renovation of light and fertility and -the restitution of the arts of life.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> <i>An ill which all shall love.</i>] In the scholia of Olympiodorus -on Plato, Pandora is allegorized into the irrational soul or -sensuality: as opposed to intellect. By Heinsius she is supposed -to be Fortune. But there never was less occasion for -straining after philosophical mysteries. Hesiod asserts in plain -terms, that Pandora is the mother of woman; he tells us she -brought with her a casket of diseases; and that through her the -state of man became a state of labour, and his longevity was -abridged. It is an ancient Asiatic legend; and Pandora is plainly -the Eve of Mosaic history. How this primitive tradition came to -be connected with that of the deluge is easily explained. “Time -with the ancients,” observes Mr. Bryant, “commenced at the -deluge; all their traditions and genealogies terminated here. The -birth of mankind went with them no higher than this epocha.” -We see here a confusion of events, of periods, and of characters. -The fall of man to a condition of labour, disease, and -death is made subsequent to the flood; because the great father -of the post-diluvian world was regarded as the original father of -mankind.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> <i>The zone, the dress.</i>] This office is probably assigned to Pallas, -as the inventress and patroness of weaving and embroidery, and -works in wool.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> <i>With chains of gold.</i>] Ορμους, rendered by the interpreter -<i>monilia</i>, are not merely necklaces, but chains for any part of the -person: as the arms and ankles. Ornaments of gold, and particularly -chains, belong to the costume of very high antiquity.</p> - -<p>“Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul: who clothed you -in scarlet with other delights: who put on <i>ornaments of gold</i> -upon your apparel. Samuel b. ii. ch. 1. v. 24.</p> - -<p>“And she took sandals upon her feet, and put about her her -bracelets, <i>and her chains</i>, and her rings, and her ear-rings, and -all her ornaments, and decked herself bravely, to allure the eyes -of all men that should see her.” Judith ch. x. v. 4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> <i>The beauteous-tressed Hours.</i>] The Hours, according to Homer, -made the toilette of Venus:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The smooth strong gust of Zephyr wafted her</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through billows of the many-waving sea</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the soft foam: the Hours, whose locks are bound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With gold, received her blithely, and enrobed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With heavenly vestments: her immortal head</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They wreathed with golden fillet, beautiful,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And aptly framed: her perforated ears</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They hung with jewels of the mountain-brass</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And precious gold: her tender neck, and breast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of dazzling white, they deck’d with chains of gold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such as the Hours wear braided with their locks.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Hymn to Venus.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> <i>His herald from above.</i>] The first edition had “winged herald;” -but the wings of Mercury are the additions of later mythologists. -Homer, in the Odyssey, speaks only of</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24">The sandals fair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Golden, and undecay’d, that waft him o’er</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sea, and o’er th’ immeasurable earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With the swift-breathing wind:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">there is no mention of the sandals being winged. They seem to -have possessed a supernatural power of velocity, like the seven-leagued -boots, or the shoes of swiftness, in the Tales of the -Giants.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> <i>Th’ unbroken vase.</i>] αρρηκτοισι δομοισι. Seleucus, an ancient -critic, quoted by Proclus, proposed πιυοισι: as if the casket in -which Hope dwelt, might not literally be called her house. -Heinsius supposes an allusion to the chamber of a virgin. After -this, who would expect that δομοισι means nothing more than a -chest?</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent16">Ελουσα κεδρινῳν δομῶν</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Εσθῆτα, κοσμον τ’.</div> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Euripides.</span> <span class="smcap">Alcestis.</span> 158.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent10">taking from her cedar coffers</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Vestures and jewels.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> <i>On casual wing they glide.</i>] Perhaps Milton had Hesiod in his -eye, in the speech of Satan to Sin: Par. Lost, b. ii. line 840.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24">Thou and Death</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wing silently the buxom air.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> <i>Wealthy in flocks.</i>] Grævius has misled all the editors by -arguing that μῆλα are, in this place, fruits of any trees; as -arbutes, figs, nuts; and not flocks: but his arguments respecting -the food of primitive mankind are drawn from the conceptions -of modern poets; such as Lucretius and Ovid. The traditionary -age described by Hesiod was a shepherd age. Flocks -are the most ancient symbol of prosperity, and are often synonymous -with riches and dominion.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> <i>High Jove as dæmons raised them from the ground.</i>] In the -account of this age we have a just history of the rise of idolatry; -when deified men had first divine honours paid to them; and we -may be assured of the family in which it began; as what was -termed Crusean, the <i>golden</i> race, should have been expressed -Cusean; for it relates to the age of Chus, and the denomination -of his sons. This substitution was the cause of the other divisions -being introduced; that each age might be distinguished in -succession by one of baser metal. Had there been no mistake -about a golden age, we should never have been treated with one -of silver; much less with the subsequent of brass and iron. The -original history relates to the patriarchic age, when the time of -man’s life was not yet abridged to its present standard, and -when the love of rule and acts of violence first displayed themselves -on the earth. The Amonians, wherever they settled, -carried these traditions along with them, which were thus added -to the history of the country; so that the scene of action was -changed. A colony who styled themselves Saturnians came to -Italy, and greatly benefited the natives. But the ancients, who -generally speak collectively in the singular, and instead of Herculeans -introduce Hercules; instead of Cadmians, Cadmus; suppose -a single person, Saturn, to have betaken himself to this -country. Virgil mentions the story in this light, and speaks of -Saturn’s settling there; and of the rude state of the nation upon -his arrival; where he introduced an age of gold. Æn. viii. 314. -The account is confused; yet we may discern in it a true history -of the first ages, as may be observed likewise in Hesiod. Both -the poets, however the scene may be varied, allude to the happy -times immediately after the deluge; when the great patriarch -had full power over his descendants, and equity prevailed without -written law. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> <i>Their kingly state.</i>] The administration of forensic justice is -implied in the words γερας βασιληιον, regal office.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> <i>The wealth of fields.</i>] Heinsius quotes Hesychius to show that -πλοῦτος does not always mean riches, properly so called; but the -riches of the soil: and says that it is here applied to the good dæmons -as presiding over the productions of the seasons. Bacchus, -in the Lenæan rites, was invoked by the epithet πλουτοδοτης, -wealth-bestower; in allusion to the vineyard. It seems intimated -here, that the Spirits reward the deeds of the just by -abundant harvests; the common belief of the Greeks, as appears -both from Hesiod and Homer.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> <i>A hundred years.</i>] Heinsius explains this passage to mean, -that “although this age was indeed deteriorated from the former, -this much of good remained; that the boys were not early exposed -to the contagion of vice, but long participated the chaste -and retired education of their sisters in the seclusion of the -female apartments.” Grævius, on the contrary, insists that -Hesiod notes it as a mark of depravation, that the youth were -educated in sloth and effeminacy, and grew up, as it were, on -the lap of their mothers. These two opinions are about -equally to the purpose. [“The poet manifestly alludes to the longevity -of persons in the patriarchic age: for they did not, it -seems, die at three-score and ten, but took more time even in -advancing towards puberty. He speaks, however, of their being -cut off in their prime; and whatever portion of life nature might -have allotted to them, they were abridged of it by their own -folly and injustice.”] <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> <i>To Troy’s far shore.</i>] Dr. Clarke in his travels in Greece, -Egypt, and the Holy-land, has noticed that the existence of Troy, -and the facts relative to the Trojan war, are supported by a -variety of evidence independent of Homer: as has been abundantly -shown in the course of the controversy between Mr. -Bryant and his able antagonist, Mr. Morritt. This passage of -Hesiod seems to me decisive testimony. If Hesiod be older -than Homer, as is computed by the chronicler of the Parian -Marbles, it is self-evident that the Trojan war is not of Homeric -invention: and if they were contemporary, or even if Hesiod, -according to the vulgar chronology, were really junior by a century, -it is not at all probable that he should have copied the -fiction of another bard, while tracing the primitive history of -mankind. He manifestly used the ancient traditions of his -nation, of which the war of Troy was one.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> <i>In those blest isles.</i>] Pindar also alludes to these in his second -Olympic Ode:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They take the way which Jove did long ordain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Saturn’s ancient tower beside the deep:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Where gales, that softly breathe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fresh-springing from the bosom of the main</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through the islands of the blessed blow.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>As the life of these beatified heroes was a renewal of that in -the golden age, it is figured by the reign of Saturn or Cronus: -the father of post-diluvian time. The era in which, after the -waste of the deluge, the vine was planted and corn again sown, -was represented by tradition as a time of wonderful abundance -and fruitfulness. Hence apparently the fable of the Elysian -fields: which some have supposed to originate from the reports -of voyagers, who had visited distant fertile regions. Saturn is -usually placed in Tartarus: but Tartarus meant the west: from -the association of darkness with sunset: and the Blessed Islands -were the Fortunate Isles on the Western Coast of Afric.</p> - -<p>“These heroes, whose equity is so much spoken of, upon a -nearer inquiry are found to be continually engaged in wars and -murders; and like the specimens exhibited of the former ages, -are finally cut off by each other’s hands in acts of robbery and -violence: some for stealing sheep, others for carrying away the -wives of their friends and neighbours. Such was the end of -these laudable banditti: of whom Jupiter, we are told, had so -high an opinion, that after they had plundered and butchered one -another, he sent them to the island of the Blest to partake of -perpetual felicity.” <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> <i>This iron age of earth.</i>] Les écrivains de tous les tems ont -regardé leur siècle comme le pire de tous: il n’y a que Voltaire -qui ait dit du sien,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O le bon tems que ce siècle de fer!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Encore était-ce dans un accès de gaieté: car ailleurs il appelle le -dixhuitième siècle, l’égout des siècles. C’est un de ces sujets -sur lesquels on dit ce qu’on veut: selon qu’il plait d’envisager -tel ou tel côté des objêts. <span class="smcap">La Harpe</span>, <span class="smcap">Lycée</span>, tome premier.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>For scarcely spring they to the light of day,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Ere age untimely strews their temples gray.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Dr. Martyn, in a -note on Virgil’s 4th Eclogue, has fallen into the error of the old -interpreters; when he quotes Hesiod as describing the iron age -“which was to end when the men of that time <i>grew old and -gray</i>.” Postquam <i>facti</i> circa tempora cani <i>fuerint</i>: but the -proper interpretation is, quum vix <i>nati</i> canescant: as Grævius -has corrected it. The same critic is unquestionably right in his -opinion, that the future tenses of this passage in the original are -to be understood as indefinite present: μεμψονται, incusabunt: -<i>i. e.</i> incusare solent: <i>use</i> to revile.</p> - -<p>Mark, iii. 27. και τοτε την οικιᾶν αυτου διαρπασει: “and then he will -spoil his house:” that is, he is accustomed to spoil. The imperfect -time has also frequently the same acceptation: as in the -same evangelist: ch. xiv. 12. το πασχα εθυον, they <i>killed</i> the passover: -they are used to kill it.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> <i>Now man’s right hand is law.</i>] Imitated by Milton in the -vision of Adam:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent28">So violence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Proceeded, and oppression, and sword-law</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through all the plain.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> <i>Leave the broad earth.</i>] Virgil alludes to this passage, Georg. -ii. 473.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">From hence Astræa took her flight, and here</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The prints of her departing steps appear.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>As also Juvenal: Sat. vi. line 19.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I well believe in Saturn’s ancient reign</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This Chastity might long on earth remain:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By slow degrees her steps Astræa sped</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To heaven above, and both the sisters fled.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> <i>Now unto kings.</i>] Βασιλευς, which we render <i>king</i>, was properly, -in the early times of Greece, a magistrate. The kings against -whom Hesiod inveighs, are therefore simply a kind of nobles, -who exercised the judicial office in Bœotia; like the twelve -of Phœacia mentioned in the Odyssey. See Mitford’s History -of Greece, vol. i. ch. 3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> <i>A neck-streak’d nightingale.</i>] Ποικιλοδειρον, with variegated -throat. This has not been thought appropriate to the nightingale. -Tzetzes and Moschopolus interpreted the term by ποικιλοφωνον, -with varied voice; a very forced construction; yet it is -adopted by Loesner, who renders it by <i>canoram</i>. Ruhnken proposes -the emendation of ποικιλογηρυν, which is synonymous. Others -have doubted whether αηδων, which is literally <i>singer</i>, might not -apply to some other bird, as the thrush, which is defined by Linnæus, -“back brown, neck spotted with white.” But the name -<i>singer</i> might have been applied to the nightingale by way of eminence. -In fact I see no difficulty. Linnæus, indeed, describes -the nightingale, “bill brown, head and back pale mouse-colour, -with olive spots,” and says nothing of the throat. Simonides, -however, speaks of χλοραυχενες αειδονες, <i>green-necked</i> nightingales, -which might justify Hesiod’s epithet. Bewick in the “British -Birds” thus describes the <i>luscinia</i>: “the whole upper part of the -body of a rusty brown tinged with olive; under parts pale ash-colour; -<i>almost white at the throat</i>.” A more ancient ornithologist -has a description still more nearly approximating to the term of -Hesiod; and it seems evident that there is more than one species -of nightingale.</p> - -<p>“Luscinia, philomela, αηδων.</p> - -<p>“The nightingale is about the bigness of a goldfinch. The colour -on the upper part, <i>i. e</i>. the head and back, is a pale fulvous -(lion, or deep gold colour) with a certain mixture of green, like -that of a red-wing. Its tail is of a deeper fulvous or red, like a -red-start’s. From its red colour it took the name of <i>rossignuolo</i>, -in Italian: (<i>rossignol</i>, French). The belly is white. The parts -under the wings, breast, and <i>throat</i>, are of a darker colour, with -<i>a tincture of green</i>.” <span class="smcap">Willoughby’s Ornithology</span>, fol. 1678.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> <i>The fool by suffering his experience buys.</i>] Παυων δε τε νηπιος εγνω. -This seems to have been a national proverb. Homer has a similar -apophthegm: Il. 17. 33.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26">μηδ’ αντιος ισταθ’ εμειο</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Πριν τι κακον παθεειν· ρεχθεν δε τε νηπιος εγνω.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Confront me not, lest some sore evil rise:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fool must rue the act that makes him wise.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Plato uses the same proverbial sentiment:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ευλαβηθῆναι και μη, κατα την παροιμιαν, ωσπερ νηπιον παθονται γνωναι.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Beware lest, after the proverb, you get knowledge like the -fool, by suffering.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> <i>Walks in awful grief the city-ways.</i>] Something similar is the -prosopopœia of Wisdom in the Proverbs of Solomon, ch. viii. -She standeth on the top of high places, by the way, and the -places of the paths.</p> - -<p>She crieth at the gates: at the entry of the city: at the coming -in of the doors.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> <i>O’er their stain’d manners.</i>] Grævius observes that the interpreters -render ηθεα λαῶν, “most foolishly” by <i>the manners</i> of the -people: because ηθεα signifies also <i>habitations</i>. But as it is not -pretended that ηθεα does not equally signify <i>manners</i>, “the extreme -folly” of the interpreters has, I confess, escaped my penetration. -Is it so very forced an image that Justice should weep -over the manners of a depraved people?</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> <i>They and their cities flourish.</i>] This passage resembles one in -the nineteenth book of the Odyssey: but not so closely as to justify -the charge of plagiarism which Dr. Clarke prefers against -Hesiod, and which might be retorted upon Homer. These were -sentiments common to the popular religion.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent8">Like the praise of some great king</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who o’er a numerous people and renown’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Presiding like a deity, maintains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Justice and truth. Their harvests overswell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sower’s hopes: their trees o’erladen scarce</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their fruit sustain: no sickness thins the folds:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The finny swarms of ocean crowd the shores,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all are rich and happy for his sake.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> <i>Reflects the father’s face.</i>] Montesquieu remarks: “The people -mentioned by Pomponius Mela (the Garamantes) had no -other way of discovering the father but by resemblance. Pater -est quem nuptiæ demonstrant.” But this uncertain criterion was -considered as infallible generally by the ancients.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She whom no conjugal affections bind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still on a stranger bends her fickle mind:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But easy to discern the spurious race,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">None in the child the father’s features trace.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Theocritus</span>—<i>Encomium of Ptolemy.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh may a young Torquatus bending</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From his mother’s breast to thee,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His tiny infant hands extending,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Laugh with half-open’d lips in childish ecstasy:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May he reflect the father in his face:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Known for a Mallius to the glancing eye</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of strangers unaware, who trace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the boy’s forehead of paternal grace</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A mother’s shining chastity.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Catullus</span>—<i>Epithalamium on Julia and Mallius.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent18"><i>Holy demons rove</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>This breathing world.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Milton is thought to have -copied Hesiod in this passage:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But the coincidence seems merely incidental, as the parallel -wants completeness. There is nothing of angelic guardianship or -judicial inspection in the spirits of Milton: he says only,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">All these with ceaseless praise his works behold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Both day and night. How often from the steep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of echoing hill, or thicket, have we heard</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Celestial voices to the midnight air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sole, or responsive to each other’s note,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Singing their great Creator?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Par. Lost</span>, iv.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[61]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20"><i>Their glance alike surveys</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The upright judgments and th’ unrighteous ways.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The eyes -of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. -<span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, xv. 3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[62]</a> <i>So rue the nations when their kings offend.</i>] Theobald, in a -note on Cooke’s translation, proposes to change δημος, <i>the people</i>, -into τημος, <i>then</i>: and renders αποτιση in the sense of <i>punish</i>, instead -of <i>rue</i>: thus the meaning would be, “that he might then, -at that instant, punish the sins of the judges.” Never was an -interference with the text so little called for. The meaning which -Theobald is so scrupulous to admit is exactly conformable with -that of a preceding passage:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft the crimes of one destructive fall;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The crimes of one are visited on all.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It is idle to inquire where is the justice of this kind of retribution? -since it is evident from all the history of mankind that such -is the course of nature.</p> - -<p>By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is -overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, xi. 11.</p> - -<p>The king by judgment establisheth the land; but he that receiveth -gifts overthroweth it. Ch. xxix. 4.</p> - -<p>In Simpson’s notes on Beaumont and Fletcher, this passage is -compared with the following in Philaster:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24">In whose name</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We’ll waken all the Gods, and conjure up</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rods of vengeance, the abused people:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">and it is proposed to understand it in the sense of Fletcher, “that -the people might be raised up to <i>punish</i> the crimes of their -prince.” There is taste and spirit in this interpretation, which -cannot be said for the amendment of Theobald: but the common -acceptation seems to me the right one, for the reasons already -stated.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[63]</a> <i>Pours down the treasures of felicity.</i>] In the house of the -righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked -there is trouble. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, xv. 6.</p> - -<p>The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: -but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. Ch. x. 3.</p> - -<p>The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked -shall rot. Ch. x. 7.</p> - -<p>A false witness shall not be unpunished: and he that speaketh -lies shall perish. Ch. xix. 9.</p> - -<p>The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not -inhabit the earth. Ch. x. 30.</p> - -<p>The inheritance of sinners’ children shall perish: and their posterity -shall have a perpetual reproach. <span class="smcap">Wisdom of Jesus the -Son of Sirach</span>, xli. 6.</p> - -<p>Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed -from among the children of men. <span class="smcap">Psalms</span>, xxi. 10.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[64]</a> <i>Smooth is the track of vice.</i>] The way of sinners is made plain -with stones: but at the end thereof is the pit of hell. <span class="smcap">Wisdom -of Jesus the Son of Sirach</span>, xxi. 10.</p> - -<p>Both Plato and Xenophon who quote this line of Hesiod, read -λειη, smooth, instead of ολιγη, short. Krebsius prefers the reading, -as a <i>short</i> road and <i>dwells near</i> make a vapid tautology: -and <i>smooth</i> forms a good antithesis to <i>rough</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[65]</a> <i>The sweat that bathes the brow.</i>] Spenser has imitated this parable -in his description of Honour:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In woods, in waves, in wars she wonts to dwell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And will be found with peril and with pain:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ne can the man that moulds in idle cell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unto her happy mansion attain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before her gate high God did sweat ordain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wakeful watches ever to abide:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But easy is the way and passage plain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To Pleasure’s palace: it may soon be spied,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And day and night her doors to all stand open wide.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This allegory of Hesiod seems the basis of the apologue of Hercules, -Virtue and Vice, which Xenophon in his “Memorabilia,” -2, 21, quotes by memory from Prodicus’s “History of Hercules.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[66]</a> <i>To the wiser friend.</i>] The way of a fool is right in his own -eyes: but he that hearkeneth to counsel is wise. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, -xii. 15.</p> - -<p>A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he -go unto the wise. Ch. xv. 12.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[67]</a> <i>Oh son of Dios.</i>] Διον γενος: Tzetzes had written in the margin -Διου γενος, and this is in all probability the true reading; not that -there is any thing extraordinary in the application of the term -<i>divine</i>, as the Greeks used it in a wide latitude, and on frequent -occasions. Homer applies it to the swineherd of Ulysses. It -was a term of courtesy or respect; and Hesiod may have intended -to compliment, not Perses, but their father. We have, -however, the testimony of Ephorus, as recorded by Plutarch, -that Dius was the father of Hesiod; and a copyist might easily -have mistaken a υ for a ν. The author of the “Contest of Homer -and Hesiod” seems to have read Διου γενος, as he makes -Homer address his competitor,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ησιοδ’ εκγονη Διου—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh Hesiod! Dius’ son!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The reading is recommended by the Abbé Sevin in the “Histoire -de l’Académie des Inscriptions,” and by Villoison; and is -adopted by Brunck in his “Gnomici Poetæ Græci.” The herma -of Hesiod exhibited by Bellorio in his “Veterûm Poetarûm Imagines” -has the inscription, Ησιοδου Διου Ασκραιος, Ascræan Hesiod -the son of Dios.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[68]</a> <i>Still on the sluggard hungry want attends.</i>] He that gathereth -in summer is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a -son that causeth shame. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, x. 5.</p> - -<p>He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that -followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough. Ch. -xxviii. 19.</p> - -<p>Hate not laborious work; neither husbandry: which the Most -High has ordained. <span class="smcap">Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach</span>, -vii. 15.</p> - -<p>He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand -of the diligent maketh rich. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, x. 4.</p> - -<p>The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to -labour: he coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous -giveth and spareth not. Ch. xxi. 25.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[69]</a> <i>Shame, which our aid or injury we find.</i>] The verse</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent18">No shame is his,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shame, of mankind the injury or aid,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">occurs in the Iliad, 24; and in the Odyssey, 17, we meet with</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">An evil shame the needy beggar holds:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">but Le Clerc should have known better than to follow Plutarch -in the supposition of the lines being inserted from Homer by some -other hand. It is one of the proverbial and traditionary sayings -which frequently occur in their writings, and which belong rather -to the language than to the poet.</p> - -<p>The admirable Jewish scribe, in that ancient book of the Apocrypha -entitled Ecclesiasticus, uses the same proverb:</p> - -<p>Observe the opportunity and beware of evil; and be not -ashamed when it concerneth thy soul.</p> - -<p>For there is a shame that bringeth sin; and there is a shame -which is glory and grace. <span class="smcap">Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach</span>, -iv. 20, 21.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[70]</a> <i>But shun extorted riches.</i>] He that hasteth to be rich, hath -an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon -him. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, xxviii. 22.</p> - -<p>He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he -shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. Ch. xxviii. 8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[71]</a> <i>Who spurns the suppliant.</i>] The ninth book of the Odyssey -exhibits a beautiful passage illustrative of the high reverence in -which the Grecians held the duties of hospitality.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Illustrious lord! respect the gods, and us</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy suitors: suppliants are the care of Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hospitable: he their wrongs resents,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And where the stranger sojourns there is he.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[72]</a> <i>If aught thou borrowest.</i>] Lend to thy neighbour in time of -his need, and pay thou thy neighbour again in due season.</p> - -<p>Keep thy word and deal faithfully with him, and thou shalt -always find the thing that is necessary for thee. <span class="smcap">Wisdom of -Jesus the Son of Sirach.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">[73]</a> <i>Who loves thee, love.</i>] Far different is the spirit of the Gospel. -“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love -thy neighbour and hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, Love -your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that -hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute -you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is -in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the -good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” <span class="smcap">Matthew</span>, -v. 43.</p> - -<p>If ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners -also love those that love them. And if ye lend to them of -whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also -lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, -and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your -reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest; -for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. <span class="smcap">Luke</span>, vi. 32.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">[74]</a> <i>Spare the middle wine.</i>] Hesiod says that we should use the -middle of the cask more sparingly, that we might enjoy the best -wine the longer. It was the ancient opinion that wine was best -in the middle, oil at the top, and honey at the bottom. <span class="smcap">Grævius.</span></p> - -<p>This opinion of Hesiod is discussed by Plutarch in his Symposiacs, -iii. 7, and by Macrobius in his Saturnalia, vii. 12.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">[75]</a> <i>As in laughter.</i>] Και τε κασιγνητω γελασας επι μαρτυρα θεσθαι. -The interpreters say,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Etiam cum fratre ludens, testem adhibeto.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But I should place the comma after <i>fratre</i>, and join <i>ludens</i> with -<i>testem adhibeto</i>. “Even in a compact with your brother, have a -witness: you may do it laughingly, or as if in jest.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">[76]</a> <i>With garment gather’d in a knot behind.</i>] πυγοστολος, adorning -the hinder parts, seems to refer to some meretricious distinction -of dress. Solon compelled women of loose character to appear in -public in flowered robes. Solomon in that beautiful chapter of -the Proverbs has a similar allusion. “There met him a woman -<i>with the attire of a harlot</i>, and subtle of heart.” Ch. vii. 10.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">[77]</a> <i>Prattling with gay speech.</i>] With her much fair speech she -caused him to yield: with the flattering of her lips she forced -him. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, vii. 21.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">[78]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent32"><i>Arise</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Before the sun.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In the words of Hesiod there -is made mention of one rising of the Pleiads, which is heliacal, and -of a double setting: the time of the rising may be referred to the -11th of May. The first setting, which indicated ploughing-time, -was <i>cosmical</i>; when, as the sun rises, the Pleiads sink below the -opposite horizon, which, in the time of Hesiod, happened about the -beginning of November. The second setting is somewhat obscurely -designated in the line</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They in his lustre forty days lie hid;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">and is the <i>heliacal</i> setting, which happened the third of April, -and after which the Pleiads were immerged in the sun’s splendour -forty days. Hesiod, however, speaks as if he confounded the -two settings, for no one would suppose but that the first-mentioned -setting was that after which the Pleiads are said to be -hidden previous to the harvest. But his words are to be explained -with more indulgence, since he could not be ignorant of -the time that intervened between the season of ploughing and -that of harvest. <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">[79]</a> <i>’Tis time to sow.</i>] In the original, begin <i>ploughing</i>; by which -is meant the last ploughing, when they turned up the soil to receive -the seed. Thus Virgil, Georg. 1:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">First let the morning Pleiades go down:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From the sun’s rays emerge the Gnossian crown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere to th’ unwilling earth thou trust the seed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Warton.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Heyne observes, “they sink below the region of the West, at -the same time that the sun emerges from the East;” the <i>cosmical</i> -setting described by Hesiod. The receding of the bright -star of the crown of Ariadne, which Virgil mentions, is its receding -from the sun; that is, its heliacal rising.</p> - -<p>The heliacal rising is a star’s emersion out of the sun’s rays; -that is, a star rises heliacally when, having been in conjunction -with the sun, the sun passes it and recedes from it. The star -then emerges out of the sun’s rays so far that it becomes again -visible, after having been for some time lost in the superiority of -day-light. The time of day in which the star rises heliacally is -at the dawn of day; it is then seen for a few minutes near the -horizon, just out of the reach of the morning light; and it rises in -a double sense from the horizon and from the sun’s rays. Afterwards, -as the sun’s distance increases, it is seen more and more -every morning.</p> - -<p>The heliacal rising and setting is then, properly, an apparition -and occultation. With respect to the Pleiads, it appears -that different authors vary in fixing the duration of their occultation -from about thirty-one days to above forty.</p> - -<p>In a note by Holdsworth on Warton’s Georgics, it is observed -that the <i>heliacal</i> setting of these stars is pointed out by the word -<i>abscondantur</i>. But this is a contradiction; for <i>Eoæ absconduntur</i> -is the same as <i>occidunt matutinæ</i>, set in the morning; but the -time of day in which a star sets heliacally is in the evening, just -after sun-set, when it is seen only for a few minutes in the west -near the horizon, on the edge of the sun’s splendour, into which -in a few days more it sinks.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">[80]</a> <i>Plough naked still.</i>] Virgil copies this direction, Georg. i:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Plough naked swain! and naked sow the land,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For lazy winter numbs the labouring hand.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Servius explains the meaning to be, that he should plough and -sow “in fair weather, when it was so hot as to make clothing -superfluous.” This seems to be very idle advice, and fixes on -Virgil the imputation of a truism. An equally superfluous counsel -is ascribed by Robinson and Grævius to Hesiod. We are -correctly told that both γυμνος and <i>nudus</i> applied to men who had -laid aside their upper garment, whether the <i>pallia</i> or <i>toga</i>, the Grecian -cloak or the Roman gown; and thus is explained the passage -in Matthew, xxiv. 18: “Neither let him which is in the field return -back to take his clothes:” but as no husbandman, whether -Greek or Italian, unless insane, would dream of following the -plough in a trailing cloak, Hesiod may safely be acquitted of so -unnecessary a piece of advice. In the hot climates of Greece and -Italy, it was probably the custom for active husbandmen to bare -the upper part of their bodies. Virgil does not say “Plough in -fine weather and not in winter;” but “Plough with your best diligence, -for winter will soon be here:” equivalent to Hesiod’s -“Summer will not last for ever.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">[81]</a> <i>The idler never shall his garners fill.</i>] He that tilleth his land -shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons -shall have poverty enough. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, xxviii. 19.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="label">[82]</a> <i>Trees bud no more.</i>] The sap of the trees, which causes them -to germinate, is then at rest. Trees when moist with sap are -subject to worms, and the timber in consequence would be liable -to putrefaction. Vitruvius also recommends that timber be felled -in the autumn.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">[83]</a> <i>A mortar of three feet.</i>] The purposes to which ancient marbles -are applied by the Turks may serve to explain the use of -the mortar, which Hesiod mentions as part of the apparatus of -the husbandman. “Capitals, when of large dimensions, are -turned upside down, and being hollowed out are placed in the -middle of the street, and used publicly for bruising wheat and -rice, as in a mortar.” <span class="smcap">Dallaway’s Constantinople.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">[84]</a> <i>Of bending figure.</i>] So also Virgil, Georg. i. 169:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Young elms, with early force, in copses bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fit for the figure of the crooked plough.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Dr. Martyn, in his comparison of Virgil’s plough with that of -Hesiod, has fallen into the mistake of the old interpreters who -render γοην <i>dentale</i>, the share-beam: whereas γυην is <i>burim</i>, -the plough-tail, to which the share-beam joins.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">[85]</a> <i>Thy artist join the whole.</i>] In the original “the servant of -Minerva,” that is, the carpenter. Minerva presided over all -crafts, and was the patroness of works in iron and wood.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">[86]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent30"><i>with bread</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Of four-squared loaf.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The loaf here mentioned -is similar to the <i>quadra</i> of the Romans: so denominated -from its being marked four-square by incisions at equal distances. -See Athenæus, iii. 29.</p> - -<p>By “a quadruple loaf containing eight portions,” Hesiod, -perhaps, means a loaf double the usual size; similar, probably, -to that mentioned by Theocritus, Idyl. xxiv. 135:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26">A huge Doric loaf:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which he that digs the ground and sets the plant</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might eat and well be fill’d.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">[87]</a> <i>The shrill crane’s migratory cry.</i>] The cranes generally leave -Europe for a more southern climate about the latter end of autumn; -and return in the beginning of summer. Their cry is the -loudest among birds; and although they soar to such a height as -to be invisible, it is distinctly heard. It is often a prognostic of -rain: as from the immense altitude of their ascent they are peculiarly -susceptible of the motions and changes of the atmosphere: -but Tzetzes is mistaken in supposing that the migratory -cry of the crane denotes only its sensibility of cold. These migrations -are performed in the night-time, and in numerous bodies; -and the clangous scream, alluded to by Hesiod, is of use to -govern their course. By this cry they are kept together; are -directed to descend upon the corn-fields, the favourite scene of -their depredations, and to betake themselves again to flight in case -of alarm. Though they soar above the reach of sight they can, -themselves, clearly distinguish every thing upon the earth beneath -them. See “Goldsmith’s Animated Nature.” Virgil -notices the crane’s instinct as to rain, Georg. i. 375:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The wary crane foresees it first, and sails</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Above the storm, and leaves the lowly vales.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">[88]</a> <i>Of ploughing-time the sign.</i>] Of the first ploughing Hesiod -says, ειαρι πολειν: turn the soil in spring; of the second, θερεος -νεωμενη, ploughed again in summer; the summer tilth: of the -third αροτον: by which he invariably means the seed-ploughing, -when they both ploughed up and sowed the ground. -<span class="smcap">Salmasius</span> <i>in Solinum</i>, 509.</p> - -<p>Robinson quotes a passage of Aristophanes: Birds, 711:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Sow when the screaming crane migrates to Afric.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The ploughing first mentioned by Hesiod is, then, actually the -last. It appears that he recommends ground to be twi-fallowed: -or prepared twice by ploughing before the seed-ploughing. Virgil -directs it to be tri-fallowed, Georg. i. 47:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep in the furrows press the shining share:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those lands at last repay the peasant’s care,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which twice the sun and twice the frosts sustain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And burst his barns surcharged with ponderous grain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Warton.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Fallowing, or ploughing the soil while at rest from yielding a -crop, prepares it for the growth of seed by pulverizing it, exposing -it to the influences of the atmosphere, and destroying the -weeds: and is of essential use in recovering land that had been -impoverished and exhausted by a succession of the same crops. -The practice of fallows seems, however, to be now in a great -degree superseded by that of an interchange of other crops in -rotation; and the succession of green or leguminous plants alternately -with the white crops or grain: the frequent hoeings, in -this mode of tillage, cleaning the soil no less effectually than -fallowings.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">[89]</a> <i>Rich in his own conceit.</i>] The sluggard is wiser in his own -conceit than seven men who can render a reason. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, -xxvi. 16.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">[90]</a> <i>These let thy timely care provide before.</i>] See Virgil, Georg. -i. 167:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The sharpen’d share and heavy-timber’d plough:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Ceres’ ponderous waggon rolling slow:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Celeus’ harrows, hurdles, sleds to trail</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er the press’d grain, and Bacchus’ flying sail:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These long before provide.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Warton.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="label">[91]</a> <i>Jove subterrene.</i>] Guietus supposes that the husband of Proserpine -is invoked from the consanguinity between Pluto, Proserpine, -and Ceres. But this is not the only reason. Grævius properly -remarks, that the earth, and all under the earth, were subject -to Pluto, as the air was to Jupiter: Pluto, therefore, was -supposed the giver of those treasures which the earth produces: -whether of metals or grain. He was in fact the same with -Plutus: and both names are formed from the Greek word πλουτος, -<i>wealth</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="label">[92]</a> <i>And scare the birds away.</i>] So Virgil, Georg. i. 156:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Et sonitu terrebis aves.</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Scare with a shout the birds.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="label">[93]</a> <i>Nor thou on others’ heaps a gazer be.</i>] Virgil, Georg. i. 158:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">On others’ crops you may with envy look,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shake for food the long-abandon’d oak.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="label">[94]</a> <i>And few shall pass thee then with honouring eye.</i>] The -Psalmist alludes to a blessing given by the passers-by at harvest: -while comparing the wicked to grass withering on the house-top: -“Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth -sheaves his bosom: neither do they which go by say, “The -blessing of the Lord be upon you.” <span class="smcap">Psalm</span> cxxix. 7, 8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="label">[95]</a> <i>The brazier’s forge.</i>] Θακος was properly a <i>seat</i> or <i>bench</i>: and -λεσχη, <i>conversation</i>, <i>chit-chat</i>—but they came to be applied to -the places where loungers sat and talked: hence the former meant -a shop, and the latter a portico, piazza, or public exchange, -whither idlers of all kinds resorted. It should seem from Homer -that beggars took up their night’s lodging in such places: -Odyssey xvii. Melantho, taking Ulysses for a mendicant, says to -him,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou wilt not seek for rest some brazier’s forge,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or portico.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="label">[96]</a> <i>To gripe thy tumid foot.</i>] Aristotle remarks that, in famished -persons, the upper parts of the body are dried up, and the -lower extremities become tumid. <span class="smcap">Scaliger.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="label">[97]</a> <i>Make now your nests.</i>] Grævius finds out that καλιαι may mean -<i>huts</i> and <i>barns</i>, as well as <i>nests</i>: and in the true spirit of a -verbal commentator, explodes the old interpretation of “<i>facite -nidos</i>” and substitutes “<i>exstruite casas</i>:” in which he is followed, -like the leader of the flock, by all the modern editors. -These <i>viri doctissimi</i> are for ever stumbling on school-boy absurdities -in their labour to be critical and sagacious: “they -strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” Are the labourers to set -about building huts and barns in the middle of harvest? Who -does not see that “make nests,” as old Chapman properly -renders it, is a mere proverbial figure? “Make hay while the -sun shines.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="label">[98]</a> <i>Those frosts.</i>] Hesiod is said, in this description, to have -imitated Orpheus: as if two poets could not describe the appearances -and effects of winter, without copying from each other.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Many and frequent from the clouds of heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The frosts rush down, on beeches and all trees,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mountains and rocks and men: and every face</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is touch’d with sadness. They sore-nipping smite</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The beasts among the hills: nor any man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can leave his dwelling: quell’d in every limb</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By galling cold: in all his limbs congeal’d.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="label">[99]</a> <i>Yet from bland Venus’ mystic rites aloof.</i>] Hesiod introduces -the privacy and retiredness of a virgin’s apartment in the house -of her mother, as conveying the idea of more complete shelter.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="label">[100]</a> <i>With shining ointment.</i>] Ointment always accompanied the -bath. Thus Homer describes the bathing of Nausicaa and her -maids in the sixth book of the Odyssey:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And laving next and smoothing o’er with oil</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their limbs, all seated on the river bank</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They took repast.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>And afterwards of Ulysses:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent18">At his side they spread</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mantle and vest; and next the limpid oil</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Presenting to him in a golden cruse,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Exhorted him to bathe.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="label">[101]</a> <i>Now gnaws the boneless polypus his feet.</i>] Athenæus, book vii. -explodes the notion of the polypus gnawing its own feet, and -states that its feet are so injured by the congers or sea-eels. -Pliny accounts for the mutilation in rather a marvellous manner. -“They are ravenously fond of oysters: these, at the touch, -close their shell, and cutting off the claws of the polypus take -their food from their plunderer. The polypi, therefore, lie in -wait for them when they are open; and placing a little stone, so -as not to touch the body of the oyster, and so as not to be -ejected by the muscular motion of the shell, assail them in security -and extract the flesh. The oyster contracts itself, but to -no purpose, having been thus wedged open.” Lib. ix. c. 30.</p> - -<p>The same story has been told, with greater probability, of the -monkey. “The name of polypi has been peculiarly ascribed to -these animals by the ancients, because of the number of feelers -or feet of which they are all possessed, and with which they -have a slow progressive motion: but the moderns have given the -name of polypus to a reptile that lives in fresh water, by no -means so large or observable. These are found at the bottom of -wet ditches, or attached to the under-surface of the broad-leaved -plants that grow and swim on the waters. The same difference -holds between these and the sea-water polypi, as between all -the productions of the land and the ocean. The marine vegetables -and animals grow to a monstrous size. The eel, the -pike, or the bream of fresh waters is but small: in the sea they -grow to an enormous magnitude. It is so between the polypi of -both elements. Those of the sea are found from two feet in -length to three or four: and Pliny has even described one, the -arms of which were no less than thirty feet long. The polypus -contracts itself more or less in proportion as it is touched, or as -the water is agitated in which they are seen. Warmth animates -them, and cold benumbs them: but it requires a degree of cold -approaching congelation, before they are reduced to perfect inactivity. -The arms, when the animal is not disturbed, and the -season is not unfavourable, are thrown about in various directions -in order to seize and entangle its prey. Sometimes three or four -of the arms are thus employed; while the rest are contracted, -like the horns of a snail, within the animal’s body. It seems -capable of giving what length it pleases to these arms: it contracts -and extends them at pleasure; and stretches them only -in proportion to the remoteness of the object it would seize. -Some of these animals so strongly resemble a flowering vegetable -in their forms, that they have been mistaken for such by many -naturalists. Mr. Hughes, the author of the Natural History -of Barbadoes, has described a species of this animal, but has -mistaken its nature, and called it a sensitive flowering plant. He -observed it to take refuge in the holes of rocks, and, when undisturbed, -to spread forth a number of ramifications, each terminated -by a flowery petal, which shrunk at the approach of the hand, -and withdrew into the hole from which it had before been seen to -issue. This plant, however, was no other than an animal of -the polypus kind: which is not only to be found in Barbadoes, -but also on many parts of the coast of Cornwall, and along the -shores of the Continent.” <span class="smcap">Goldsmith</span>, <span class="smcap">Animated Nature</span>, -vol. vi.</p> - -<p>The Polypus is mentioned by Homer, Odys. v.:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As when the polypus enforced forsakes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His rough recess, in his contracted claws</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He gripes the pebbles still to which he clung:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So he within his lacerated grasp</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The crumbled stone retain’d, when from his hold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The huge wave forced him, and he sank again.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="label">[102]</a> <i>Like aged men.</i>] In the original, τριποδι βροτᾶ, a three-footed -mortal: that is, a man with a crutch: a metaphor suggested, -probably, by the ænigma of the Sphinx.</p> - -<p>“What is that, which is two-footed, three-footed, and four-footed, -yet one and the same? Œdipus declared that the thing -propounded to him was man: for that a man, while an infant, -went on four: when grown up, on two; and when old, on three: -as using a staff through feebleness.” <span class="smcap">Diodorus</span>, Bibl. 4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="label">[103]</a> <i>On a scant warp.</i>] The nap is formed by the threads of the -woof: Hesiod therefore directs the woof to be thick and strong, -that the nap may the better exclude wet.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="label">[104]</a> <i>A strong-dying ox.</i>] This expression is borrowed from Chapman. -Thus we find in Homer, “a thong from a slaughtered ox.” -This is illustrated by Plutarch in his Symposiacs, 2. by the fact -that the skins of slaughtered beasts are tougher, less flaccid, and -less liable to be broken than those of animals which have died -of age or distemper. The ancients, says Grævius, made their -shoes of the raw hide.</p> - -<p>Πιλοι, in Latin <i>udones</i>, were woollen socks; worn, when abroad, -inside the shoes; or as substitutes for shoes, in the manner of -slippers, when within doors and in the bed-chamber. <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="label">[105]</a> <i>And kid-skins ’gainst the rigid season sew.</i>] This was a sort of -rough cloak of skins common to the country people of Greece.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Stripp’d of my garberdine of skins, at once</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I will from high leap down into the waves.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Theocritus</span>, <i>Idyl.</i> iii. 25.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Grævius quotes Varro as authority for a similar covering being -worn among the Romans: by soldiers in camp, by mariners, and -poor people.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="label">[106]</a> <i>A well-wrought-cap.</i>] In very ancient times the cap answered -no other purpose for the head than the sock, which was worn -inside the shoe, did for the foot. The helmets were lined with -it. Of this kind was that of the helmet which Ulysses, Odys. -x. received from Merion:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent22">Without it was secured</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With boar’s-teeth ivory-white, inserted thick</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On all sides, and with woollen head-piece lined.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Eustathius tells us, that in after-times they gave the same -term, πιλος, to any covering for the head, and thus they ascribed -to Ulysses a cap such as they then used. Thus as the club is the -badge of Hercules, so is the cap of Ulysses: as appears from -coins and other antiques. The ancient Greeks did not use any -covering for the head: and it was from them that the Romans -borrowed the custom of going bare-headed. They used caps -only on journeys; in excessive heat or cold; or in rainy weather. -These caps the Latins called <i>petasos</i>: they were a kind of broad-brimmed -hat, like that which is observed in the figures of Mercury. -Otherwise, when in the city, they merely wrapped their -heads in the lappet of the gown. <span class="smcap">Grævius.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="label">[107]</a> <i>The wintry tropic.</i>] The winter solstice, according to the table -of Petavius, happened in Hesiod’s time on the 30th of December. -The acronychal rising of Arcturus took place in the 14th degree -of Pisces, which corresponds in the calendar with the 5th of -March. <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -<p>The acronychal rising of a star is when it rises at the beginning -of night: the acronychal setting is when it sets at the end of -night. But there are two acronychal risings and settings: the -one when the star rises exactly as the sun sets, and sets exactly -as the sun rises. This is the <i>true</i> acronychal rising and -setting, but it is invisible by reason of the day-light. The other -is the visible or <i>apparent</i> acronychal rising and setting; which is, -when the star is actually seen in the horizon.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="label">[108]</a> <i>The green artichoke.</i>] Σκολυμος is not the thistle, as has been -commonly supposed. Pliny says of it, lib. xxii. c. 22, “The scolymos -is also received for food in the East. The stalk is never -more than a cubit in height, with scaly leaves, and a black root -of a sweet taste.” It is, therefore, the artichoke.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="label">[109]</a> <i>The loud cicada.</i>] The interpreters translate ηχετα <i>canora</i>, -and λιγυρην <i>dulcem</i>; and hence an idea is prevalent that Hesiod -speaks of the cicada as having a sweet note; but of these epithets -the first is properly <i>vocal</i> or <i>sonorous</i>, and the second <i>shrill</i> -or <i>stridulous</i>. Anacreon calls the insect “wise in music,” but -he seems to think the note musical from its cheerful association -with summer:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Mortals honour thee with praise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prophet sweet of summer days.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Virgil applies to it the characteristics of <i>hoarse</i> and <i>querulous</i>. -Ecl. ii. Georgic. iii.</p> - -<p>“Of this genus the most common European species is the -<i>cicada plebeia</i> of Linnæus. This is the insect so often commemorated -by the ancient poets; and generally confounded by -the major part of translators with the grasshopper. It is a native -of the warmer parts of Europe, and particularly of Italy and -Greece: appearing in the latter months of summer, and continuing -its shrill chirping during the greatest part of the day: -generally sitting among the leaves of trees. Notwithstanding the -romantic attestations in honour of the cicada, it is certain that -modern ears are offended rather than pleased with its voice; -which is so very strong and stridulous, that it fatigues by its incessant -repetition; and a single cicada, hung up in a cage, has -been found to drown the voice of a whole company. The male -cicada alone exerts this powerful note, the female being entirely -mute. That a sound so piercing should proceed from so small a -body may well excite our astonishment; and the curious apparatus, -by which it is produced, has justly claimed the attention -of the most celebrated investigators. Reaumur and Roësel, in -particular, have endeavoured to ascertain the nature of the mechanism -by which the noise is produced; and have found that -it proceeds from a pair of concave membranes, seated on each -side of the first joints of the abdomen: the large concavities of -the abdomen, immediately under the two broad <i>lamellæ</i> in the -male insect, are also faced by a thin, pellucid, iridescent membrane, -serving to increase and reverberate the sound; and a -strong muscular apparatus is exerted for the purpose of moving -the necessary organs.” <span class="smcap">Shaw</span>, <span class="smcap">General Zoology</span>, vol. vi.</p> - -<p>The same naturalist specifies several large and elegant insects -in this division of the genus cicada. One with the body of a -polished black colour, marked with scarlet rings: another of a -green hue, with transparent wings, veined also with green; and -a third of a fine black varied beneath with yellow streaks, and the -wings black towards the base.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="label">[110]</a> <i>Then the plump goat.</i>] This is imitated by Virgil, Georg. i. -341:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For then the hills with pleasing shades are crown’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sleeps are sweeter on the silken ground:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With milder beams the sun serenely shines,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fat are the lambs and luscious are the wines.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="label">[111]</a> <i>But weak of man the heat-enfeebled reins.</i>] Aristotle is of -the same opinion. The curious reader may consult the Dictionnaire -de <span class="smcap">Bayle</span>, iv. 222. Note A.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="label">[112]</a> <i>Byblian wine.</i>] This was so called from a region of Thrace: -it was a thin wine, and not intoxicating. See Athenæus, i. 31. -It is mentioned by Theocritus, Idyl. xiv. 15:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I open’d them a flask of Byblian wine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Well-odour’d: with the flavour of four years.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="label">[113]</a> <i>Orion’s beamy strength.</i>] In the table of Petavius the bright -star of the foot of Orion makes its heliacal rise in the 18th -degree of Cancer: that is, on the 12th of July. <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="label">[114]</a> <i>On gusty ground.</i>] So Varro, de Re Rusticâ, lib. i. c. 51. “The -threshing-floor should be in a field, on higher ground, where the -wind might blow over it.” See also Columella, lib. xi. c. 20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="label">[115]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent16"><i>Thy hireling swain</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>From forth thy house dismiss.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Θητα αοικον ποιεισθαι -is rendered by Grævius <i>comparare sibi servum domo carentem</i>: -and Schrevelius explains the passage to mean that -“you should seek out a servant who, having no house of his own -to look after, could direct his whole attention to your concerns.” -So when the harvest is over, and the corn laid up in the granaries, -he is to look out for a labourer! Was there ever a direction so -unmeaning as this? I translate the words, (<i>meo periculo</i>) “<i>servum -operarium è domo dimitte</i>.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="label">[116]</a> <i>Keep, too, a sharp-tooth’d dog.</i>] Virgil has a more poetical -passage on the same subject, Georg. iii. 404:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor last forget thy faithful dogs: but feed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With fattening whey the mastiff’s generous breed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Spartan race, who for the fold’s relief</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will prosecute with cries the nightly thief,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Repulse the prowling wolf, and hold at bay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mountain robbers rushing to the prey.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="label">[117]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent10"><i>On Arcturus looks from high</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The rosy-finger’d morn.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>By this is understood -the heliacal rising of Arcturus, which happened in the time of -Hesiod about the 21st of September. <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="label">[118]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent16"><i>On morning’s brink</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The Pleiads, Hyads, and Orion sink.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This is the morning, -or cosmical, setting of the Pleiads; which, according to Petavius, -happened some time in November. <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="label">[119]</a> <i>Then varying winds.</i>] Virgil cautions the navigator against the -appearances of the sun, Georg. i. 455:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">If dusky spots are varied on his brow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And streak’d with red a troubled colour show:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That sullen mixture shall at once declare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Winds, rain, and storms, and elemental war:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What desperate madman then would venture o’er</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The frith, or haul his cables from the shore?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="label">[120]</a> <i>Black ocean.</i>] Οινοπι ποντω, wine-coloured. This evidently -means black: as the Greek poets apply the epithet black to wine. -Hesiod has αιθοπα οινοι, black coloured wine. The sense of this -latter epithet is deduced from the blackness caused by burning: -as αιθω is <i>to burn</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="label">[121]</a> <i>In summer irksome.</i>] This inconvenience arose from the site of -the place: as the scholiasts Proclus and Tzetzes relate: for by -the neighbourhood of so high a mountain as Helicon, the -breezes, which might have alleviated the summer heat, were intercepted: -and in winter, the rays of the sun were excluded from -the village; which was also exposed to torrents from the melting -of the snow. <span class="smcap">Robinson.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="label">[122]</a> <i>Decline a slender bark.</i>] Αινειν, <i>commend</i>. This passage is -quoted by Plutarch in illustration of words used in a different -sense from what they seem to import. <i>Praise</i> means <i>refuse</i>. -The same idiom occurs in Virgil’s second Georgic:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent14">Commend the large excess</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of spacious vineyards: cultivate the less.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="label">[123]</a> <i>O’er the sea’s broad way.</i>] From the following extracts it will -not appear extraordinary that this prodigious voyage of Hesiod -should have afforded him but little opportunity of acquiring a -practical knowledge of navigation. On an inspection of the -map we must, however, concede that the passage from Aulis -direct to Chalcis is somewhat wider than the part of the strait -crossed by a draw-bridge.</p> - -<p>“Elle (Chalcis) est située dans un endroit où à la faveur de -deux promontoires qui s’avançent de part et d’autre, les côtes de -l’île touchent presque à celles de Bèotie.</p> - -<p>“Ce leger intervalle, qu’on appelle Euripe, est en partie comblé -par une digue. A chacune de ses extrémités est une tour pour -le défendre, et un pont-lever pour laisser passer un vaisseau.” -<span class="smcap">Barthelemy</span>, <span class="smcap">Voyages d’Anacharsis</span>, tom. ii. p. 82.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="label">[124]</a> <i>Where first their tuneful inspiration flow’d.</i>] That is, on mount -Helicon. Both Le Clerc and Robinson unaccountably refer the -term ενθα, where, to Chalcis: and regard this passage as contradictory -to that in the proem to the Theogony: whereas the -one confirms the other.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="label">[125]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>When from the summer-tropic fifty days</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Have roll’d.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>If no verses be -wanting here, Hesiod truly needs not boast of his skill in -nautical affairs. For what can be more absurd than to confine -all navigation within fifty days, and those beginning from the -summer-solstice; especially as the summer solstice fell on the -3d of July? I should suppose that there was a deficiency of two -verses to this effect:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Before the summer-tropic fifty days</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy keel may safely plough the azure ways.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The similarity of the lines may have caused the copyist’s -omission of the two former. I am aware that the art of navigation -was in that age imperfect: but if sea-faring men had learnt -from experience that navigation was safe fifty days <i>after</i> the -summer solstice, they could have learnt from the same teacher that -it was equally safe fifty days <i>before</i> it: namely, in the months of -May and June. <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="label">[126]</a> <i>Men, too, may sail in spring.</i>] What the poet says here of a -spring voyage, I understand of that which may be made in the -month of April: which is not much less liable to gales and -storms than even the winter months. Certainly it was in April -that the fig-tree began to be in leaf. <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="label">[127]</a> <i>And wed the fifth of her expanded bloom.</i>] She begins to bloom -in her twelfth year. Let her wed in the fifth year of her puberty; -that is, in her sixteenth. <span class="smcap">Guietus.</span></p> - -<p>Robinson, not considering the difference of climate, supposes -that the fourteenth year is the first of her puberty, and that she -is directed to wed in her nineteenth.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="label">[128]</a> <i>Shall send a fire thy vigorous bones within.</i>] A virtuous woman -is a crown to her husband, but she that maketh ashamed is -as rottenness in his bones. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, xii. 4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="label">[129]</a> <i>Nor lie with idle tongue.</i>] Devise not a lie against thy brother, -neither do the like to thy friend. <span class="smcap">Ecclesiasticus</span>, vii. 12.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="label">[130]</a> <i>Chastise his sin.</i>] Far more liberal is the counsel of the son of -Sirach:</p> - -<p>Admonish a friend: it may be, he hath not done it; and if he -have done it, that he may do it no more.</p> - -<p>Admonish thy friend: it may be he hath not said it; and if -he have, that he speak it not again.</p> - -<p>Admonish a friend, for many times it is a slander; and believe -not every tale.</p> - -<p>There is one that slippeth in his speech, but not from his heart: -and who is he, that hath not offended with his tongue? -<span class="smcap">Ecclesiasticus</span>, xix.</p> - -<p>Cicero says elegantly, “Care is to be taken lest friendships -convert themselves even into grievous enmities: whence arise -bickerings, backbitings, contumelies: these are yet to be borne, -if they be bearable: and this compliment should be paid to the -ancient friendship, that the person in fault should be he that inflicts -the injury, not he that suffers it.” <span class="smcap">De Amicitia</span>, c. 21.</p> - -<p>The author of the Pythagorean “golden verses” has a line which -deserves indeed to be written in letters of gold:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hate not thy tried friend for a slender fault.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This is probably one of the maxims of Hesiod which induced -La Harpe to observe, “Cette morale n’est pas toujours la meilleure -du monde.” <span class="smcap">Lycée</span>, tom. i. Hésiode.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="label">[131]</a> <i>Rebuke not want.</i>] Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his -Maker. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, xvii. 5.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="label">[132]</a> <i>Lo! the best treasure is a frugal tongue.</i>] In the multitude of -words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is -wise. The tongue of the just is as choice silver. <span class="smcap">Proverbs</span>, x. 19, 20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="label">[133]</a> <i>When many guests combine.</i>] There were two sorts of entertainments -among the ancient Grecians: the first was provided -at the expense of one man, the second was at the common -charge of all present: at the latter some of the guests occasionally -contributed more than their exact proportion. These were generally -most frequented, and are recommended by the wise men of -those times as most apt to promote friendship and good neighbourhood. -They were for the most part managed with more order -and decency, because the guests who ate of their own collation -were usually more sparing than when they were feasted at another -man’s expense; as we are informed by Eustathius. So different -was their behaviour at the public feasts from that at private entertainments, -that Minerva, in Homer, having seen the intemperance -and unseemly actions of Penelope’s courtiers, concludes -their entertainment was not provided at the common charge.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent18">Behold I here</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A banquet, or a nuptial feast? for these</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Meet not by contribution to regale;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With such brutality and din they hold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their riotous banquet.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper</span>, <i>Odyss.</i> l.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Potter</span>, <i>Archæologia Græca</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="label">[134]</a> <i>The feast of gods.</i>] A sacrifice was followed by a general banquet, -and the tables were spread in the temple itself. The gods -were supposed invisibly to be present. Thus we are to explain -their visit to the Æthiopians in Homer, Il. i:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For to the banks of the Oceanus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where Æthiopia holds a feast to Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He journied yesterday; with whom the gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Went also.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="label">[135]</a> <i>Ne’er to thy five-branch’d hand apply the blade.</i>] This precept -is somewhat obscurely expressed, like the symbols of Pythagoras: -that things of no value might appear to involve a mysterious importance. -Hesiod seems to intimate that we should not choose -the precise time of the feast for washing the hands and paring the -nails, but sit down to table with hands ready washed. No person, -indeed, even at a private entertainment, would have thought -of cutting his nails at table, if he did not wish the parings to fly -into the dishes, which I conceive could not have been more -agreeable to the Greeks than to ourselves. <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="label">[136]</a> <i>Upon the goblet’s edge.</i>] Robinson supposes a sentiment of -hospitality; that the flaggon is not to stand still. Others suppose -οινοχοη to be a bowl used only in libation, and which it was indecent -to prostitute to common use. But for this there seems -not the least authority.</p> - -<p>“All the allegorical glosses invented by the latter Greeks to -varnish over the doting superstitions of their ancestors are utterly -destitute of verisimilitude. Even in our day traces of the old -superstitions remain in many places. There are people, for -instance, who think it a bad omen if the loaf be inverted, so that -the flat part is uppermost; if the knives be laid across, or the -salt spilt on the table. It would be just as easy to find a mystical -sense in these, as in the idle fancies of Hesiod.” <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="label">[137]</a> <i>Unhallow’d vessels.</i>] There is here an allusion to the ancient -custom of purifying new vessels and consecrating them to a happy -use; or, as we say, blessing them. <span class="smcap">Guietus.</span></p> - -<p>Le Clerc imagines a prohibition against seizing the flesh from -the tripods before a sacrifice, which he illustrates by the offence -of the sons of Eli, 1 Sam. ii. 13; but what has the bathing to -do with this?</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="label">[138]</a> <i>On moveless stones.</i>] By ακινητα, immoveable things, he appears -to mean the ground or stones, which are cold and hard; or -by sitting on immoveable things we may understand habits of -sloth. <span class="smcap">Guietus.</span></p> - -<p>Proclus interprets the word to mean sepulchres, which it was -unlawful to move: but on the same grounds it may be interpreted -land-marks. One should rather understand by it any sort of -stones; Hesiod preferring that a boy should be placed on wooden -slabs that might be moved about. But the being placed on a -stone could not be more hurtful to him on the twelfth day or -month than at any other period of his childhood. This was a -mere superstition; and we may as well seek to interpret the -dreams of a man who is light-headed. <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="label">[139]</a> <i>The thirtieth of the moon.</i>] That is, the last day of each month; -for the most ancient Greeks, as well as the Orientals, employed -lunar months of thirty days. <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -<p>The Greek month was divided into τρια δεκημερα, three decades -of days. The first was called μηνος αρχομενου or ισταμενου; the second, -μηνος μησουντος; and the third, μηνος φθινοντος, παυομενου, or ληγοντος: -the beginning month, the middle month, the declining or ending -month. The words were put in the genitive case because some -day was placed before them. Thus the middle-first or first of the -second decade was the eleventh of the whole month; and the first -of the end, or of the last decade, was the twenty-first: the -twenty-ninth was called εικας μεγαλη, the great twentieth. The -French Republican calendar was formed on the Greek model.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="label">[140]</a> <i>What time the people to the courts repair.</i>] The forenoon was -distinguished by the time of the court of judicature sitting, as in -this passage of Hesiod; the afternoon by the time of its breaking -up, as in the following of Homer:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent14">At what hour the judge,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">After decision made of numerous strifes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Between young candidates for honour, leaves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The forum, for refreshment’s sake at home.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper</span>, <i>Odyss.</i> xii.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="label">[141]</a> <i>Beware the fifth.</i>] Virgil copies this, as well as some other of -these superstitions, Georg. i. 275:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For various works behold the moon declare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some days more fortunate: the fifth beware:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pale Orcus and the Furies then sprang forth—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">...</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Next to the tenth the seventh to luck inclines</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For taming oxen and for planting vines:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then best her woof the prudent housewife weaves:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Better for flight the ninth; averse to thieves.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Warton.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_THEOGONY">The Theogony.</h2> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">THE THEOGONY.</h2> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<h3>The Argument.</h3> - -<p>The proem is a rhapsody in honour of the Muses. It opens -with a description of their solemn dances on mount Helicon, -and of the hymns which they sing during their nightly visitation -of earth. The poet then relates their appearance to himself, -and his consequent inspiration; describes their employments -in heaven; their birth and dignity; their influence on kings or -magistrates, minstrels and bards; and finishes with invoking -their assistance and proposing his subject. The <span class="smcap">Cosmogony</span>, -or origin of nature, then commences, and blends into the -<span class="smcap">Theogony</span>, or generation of gods, which is continued through -the whole poem, and concludes with the race of demi-gods, or -those born from the loves of goddesses and mortals. The following -legendary traditions are interwoven episodically with -the main subject. I. The imprisonment of his children by -<span class="smcap">Uranus</span> or <span class="smcap">Heaven</span> in a subterranean cave; and the consequent -conspiracy of <span class="smcap">Earth</span> and <span class="smcap">Cronus</span>, or <span class="smcap">Saturn</span>. II. The -concealment of the infant <span class="smcap">Jupiter</span>. III. The impiety and punishment -of Prometheus. IV. The creation of <span class="smcap">Pandora</span>, or -<span class="smcap">Woman</span>. V. The war of the <span class="smcap">Gods</span> and <span class="smcap">Titans</span>. VI. The -combat of <span class="smcap">Jupiter</span> with the giant <span class="smcap">Typhæus</span>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span></p> - -<h3>THE THEOGONY.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Begin we from the Muses oh my song!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Muses of Helicon: their dwelling-place</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mountain vast and holy: where around</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The altar of high Jove and fountain dark</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From azure depth, <a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a>they lightly leap in dance</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With delicate feet; and having duly bathed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their tender bodies in Permessian streams,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a>In springs that gush’d fresh from the courser’s hoof,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Or blest Olmius’ waters, many a time</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon the topmost ridge of Helicon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their elegant and amorous dances thread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And smite the earth with strong-rebounding feet.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thence breaking forth tumultuous, and enwrapt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With the deep mist of air, they onward pass</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nightly, and utter, as they sweep on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A voice in stilly darkness beautiful.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They hymn the praise of Ægis-wielding Jove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Juno, named of Argos, who august</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In golden sandals walks: and her, whose eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Glitter with azure light, Minerva born</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Jove: Apollo, <a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a>sire of prophecy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Dian gladden’d by the twanging bow:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth-grasping Neptune, shaker of earth’s shores:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Majestic Themis and Dione fair:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a>And Venus twinkling bland her tremulous lids:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hebe, her brows with golden fillet bound:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Morn, the vast Sun, and the resplendent Moon:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Latona and Japetus: and him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of crooked wisdom, Saturn: and the Earth:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the huge Ocean, and the sable Night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the sacred race of deities</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Existing ever. They to <span class="smcap">Hesiod</span> erst</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have taught their stately song: the whilst he fed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His lambs beneath the holy Helicon.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And thus the goddesses, th’ Olympian maids</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose sire is Jove, first hail’d me in their speech;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Shepherds! that tend in fields the fold; ye shames!</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a>Ye fleshly appetites! the Muses hear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis we can utter fictions veil’d like truths,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or, if we list, speak truths without a veil.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So said the daughters of the mighty Jove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sooth-speaking maids: and gave unto my hand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A rod of marvellous growth, <a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a>a laurel-bough</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of blooming verdure; and within me breathed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A heavenly voice, that I might utter forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All past and future things: and bade me praise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The blessed race of ever-living gods:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ever first and last the Muses sing.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Away then—why <a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a>this tale of oaks and rocks?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Begin we from the Muses oh my song!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They the great spirit of their father Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Delight in heaven: their tongues symphonious breathe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All past, all present, and all future things:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sweet, inexhaustible, from every mouth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That voice flows on: the Thunderer’s palace laughs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With scatter’d melody of honied sounds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From the breathed voice of goddesses, and all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The snow-topp’d summits of Olympus ring,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mansions of immortals. They send forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their undecaying voice, and in their songs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Proclaim before all themes the race of gods</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">From the beginning: the majestic race,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom earth and awful heaven endow’d with life:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the deities who sprang from these,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Givers of blessings. Then again they change</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The strain to Jove, the sire of gods and men:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Him praise the choral goddesses: him first</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And last: with rising and with ending song:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How excellent he is above all gods,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in his power most mighty. Once again</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They sing the race of men, and giants strong;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soothe the soul of Jupiter in heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They, daughters of high Jove: Olympian maids:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom erst Mnemosyne, protecting queen</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of rich Eleuther’s fallows, in embrace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With Jove their sire amidst <a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a>Pieria’s groves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Conceived: of ills forgetfulness; to cares</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rest: thrice three nights did counsel-shaping Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Melt in her arms, apart from eyes profane</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of all immortals to the sacred couch</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ascending: and when now the year was full,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When moons had wax’d and waned, and reasons roll’d,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And days were number’d, she, some space remote</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From where Olympus highest towers in snow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a>Bare the nine maids, with souls together knit</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In harmony: whose thought is only song:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within whose bosoms dwells th’ unsorrowing mind.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There on the mount they shine in troops of dance,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dwell in beautified abodes: and nigh</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The Graces also dwell, and Love himself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hold the feast. But they through parted lips</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Send forth a lovely voice; they sing the laws</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of universal heaven; the manners pure</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of deathless gods, and lovely is their voice.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Anon they bend their footsteps tow’rds the mount,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rejoicing in their beauteous voice and song</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unperishing: far round the dusky earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rings with their hymning voices, and beneath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their many-rustling feet a pleasant sound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ariseth, as tumultuous pass they on</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To greet their heavenly sire. He reigns in heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bolt and glowing lightning in his grasp,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Since by the strong ascendant of his arm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Saturn his father fell: he to the gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Appoints the laws, and he their honours names.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So sing the Muses; dwellers on the mount</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of heaven: nine daughters of the mighty Jove:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Melpomene, Euterpe, Erato,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Polymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Urania, Clio, and Calliope:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The chiefest she: who walks upon the steps</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of kingly judges in their majesty:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And whomsoe’er of heavenly-nurtured kings</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Jove’s daughters will to honour, looking down</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With smiling aspect on his cradled head</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They pour a gentle dew upon his tongue:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And words, as honey sweet, drop from his lips.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To him the people look: on him all eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wait awful, who in righteousness discerns</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ways of judgment: in a single breath,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Utter’d with knowledge, ends the mightiest strife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all is peace. The wisdom this of kings:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That in their judgment-hall they from the oppress’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Turn back the tide of ills, retrieving wrongs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With mild accost of <a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a>soothing eloquence.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On him, the judge and king, when passing forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Among the city-ways, all reverent look</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With a mild worship, as he were a god:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in <a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a>the great assembly first is he.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Such is the Muses’ goodly gift to man.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Muses, and Apollo darting far</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The arrows of his splendour, raise on earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a>Harpers and men of song: but kings arise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Jove himself. Oh blessed is the man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whome’er the Muses love! sweet is the voice</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That from his lips flows ever. <a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a>Is there one</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who hides some fresh grief in his wounded mind</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And mourns with aching heart? but he, the bard,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a>The servant of the Muse, awakes the song</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To deeds of men of old, and blessed gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That dwell on mount Olympus. Straight he feels</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His sorrow stealing in forgetfulness:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor of his griefs remembers aught: so soon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Muse’s gift has turn’d his woes away.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Daughters of Jove! all hail! but oh inspire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lovely song! record the heavenly race</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of gods existing ever: those who sprang</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From earth and starry heaven and murky night,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And whom the salt deep quicken’d. Say how first</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The gods and earth became: how rivers flow’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ unbounded sea raged high in foamy swell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The stars shone forth, and overhead the sky</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Spread its broad arch: and say from these what gods,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Givers of blessings, sprang: and how they shared</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heaven’s splendid attributes and parted out</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Distinct their honours: and how first they fix’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their dwelling midst Olympus’ winding vales:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tell, oh ye Muses! ye who also dwell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In mansions of Olympus: tell me all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From the beginning: say who first arose.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a>First of all beings Chaos was: and next</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wide-bosom’d Earth, the seat for ever firm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of all th’ immortals, whose abode is placed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Among the mount Olympus’ snow-top’d heads,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a>Or in the dark abysses of the ground:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Love most beauteous of immortals rose:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He of each god and mortal man at once</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unnerves the limbs, dissolves the wiser breast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By reason steel’d, and quells the very soul.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From Chaos, Erebus and sable Night:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Night arose the Sunshine and the Day:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Offspring of Night from Erebus’ embrace.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Earth first conceived with Heaven: whose starry cope,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like to herself immense, might compass her</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On every side: and be to blessed gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A resting-place immoveable for ever.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She teem’d with the high Hills, the pleasant haunts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of goddess nymphs, who dwell within the glens</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of mountains. With no aid of tender love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She gave to birth the sterile Sea, high-swol’n</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In raging foam: and, Heaven-embraced, anon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She teem’d with Ocean, rolling in deep whirls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His vast abyss of waters. Crœus, then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cæus, Hyperion, and Iäpetus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Themis, and Thea rose; Mnemosyne,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And Rhea; Phœbe diadem’d with gold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And love-inspiring Tethys: and of these,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Youngest in birth, the wily Saturn came,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sternest of her sons; for he abhorr’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sire who gave him life. Then brought she forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a>The Cyclops brethren, arrogant of heart,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Undaunted Arges, Brontes, Steropes:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who forged the lightning shaft, and gave to Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His thunder: they were like unto the gods:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save that a single ball of sight was fix’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In their mid-forehead. Cyclops was their name,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From that round eye-ball in their brow infix’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And strength and force and manual craft were theirs.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Others again were born from Earth and Heaven:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Three giant sons: strong, dreadful but to name,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Children of glorying valour: Briareus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cottus and Gyges: from whose shoulders burst</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A hundred arms that mock’d approach, and o’er</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their limbs hard-sinew’d fifty heads upsprang:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mighty th’ immeasurable strength display’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In each gigantic stature: and of all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The children born to earth and heaven these sons</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were dreadfullest: and they, e’en from the first,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drew down their father’s hate: as each was born</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He seized them all, and hid them in th’ abyss</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Earth: nor e’er released them to the light.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heaven in his evil deed rejoiced: vast Earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Groan’d inly, sore aggrieved: but soon devised</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A stratagem of mischief and of fraud.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sudden creating for herself a kind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of whiter iron, she with labour framed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A scythe enormous: and address’d her sons:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She spoke emboldening words, though grieved at heart.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“My sons! alas! ye children of a sire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Most impious, now obey a mother’s voice:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So shall we well avenge the fell despite</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of him your father, who the first devised</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Deeds of injustice.” While she said, on all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fear fell: nor utterance found they, till with soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Embolden’d, wily Saturn huge address’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His awful mother. “Mother! be the deed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My own: thus pledged I will most sure achieve</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This feat: nor heed I him, our sire, of name</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Detested: for that he the first devised</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deeds of injustice.” Thus he said, and Earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was gladden’d at her heart. She planted him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In ambush dark and secret: in his grasp</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She placed the sharp-tooth’d scythe, and tutor’d him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In every wile. Vast Heaven came down from high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with him brought the gloominess of Night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On all beneath: with ardour of embrace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hovering o’er Earth, in his immensity</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He lay diffused around. The son stretch’d forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His weaker hand from ambush: in his right</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a>He took the sickle huge and long and rough</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">With sharpen’d teeth: and hastily he reap’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The genial organs of his sire, at once</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cut sheer: then cast behind him far away.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They not in vain escaped his hold: for Earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Received the blood-drops, and as years roll’d round</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Teem’d with strong furies and with giants huge,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shining in mail, and grasping in their hands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Protended spears: and wood-nymphs, named of men</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dryads, o’er all th’ immeasurable earth.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So severing, as was said, with edge of steel</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The genial spoils, he from the continent</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amidst the many surges of the sea</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hurl’d them. Full long they drifted o’er the deeps:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till now swift-circling a white foam arose</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From that immortal substance, and a nymph</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Was quicken’d in the midst. The wafting waves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">First bore her to Cythera’s heavenly coast:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then reach’d she Cyprus, girt with flowing seas,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And forth emerged a goddess, in the charms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of awful beauty. Where her delicate feet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had press’d the sands, green herbage flowering sprang.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her Aphrodite gods and mortals name,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a>The foam-born goddess: and her name is known,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">As Cytherea with the blooming wreath,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For that she touch’d Cythera’s flowery coast:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Cypris, for that on the Cyprian shore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She rose, amidst the multitude of waves:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Philomedia, from the source of life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a>Love track’d her steps; and beautiful Desire</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Pursued, while soon as born she bent her way</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Towards heaven’s assembled gods: her honours these</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From the beginning: whether gods or men</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her presence bless, to her the portion fell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of <a id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a>virgin whisperings and alluring smiles,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And smooth deceits, and gentle ecstasy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dalliance, and the blandishments of love.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But the great Heaven, rebuking those his sons</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That issued from his loins, new-named them now</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Titans: and said that they avenging dared</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A crime; but retribution was behind.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Abhorred Fate and dark Necessity</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Death were born from Night: by none embraced</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These gloomy Night brought self-conceiving forth:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Sleep and all the hovering host of dreams.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a>Then bare she Momus; Care, still brooding sad</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On many griefs; and next <a id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a>th’ Hesperian maids,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose charge o’er-sees the fruits of blooming gold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the sounding ocean, the fair trees</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of golden fruitage. Then the Destinies</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arose, and Fates in vengeance pitiless:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clotho, and Lachesis, and Atropos:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who at the birth of men dispense the lot</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of good and evil. They of men and gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The crimes pursue, nor ever pause from wrath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tremendous, till destructive on the head</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of him that sins the retribution fall.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then teem’d pernicious Night with Nemesis,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The scourge of mortal men: again she bare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fraud and lascivious Love: slow-wasting Age,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still-persisting Strife. From hateful Strife</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came sore Affliction and Oblivion drear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Famine and weeping Sorrows: Combats, Wars,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Slaughters, and all Homicides: and Brawls,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Bickerings, and deluding Lies: with them</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perverted Law and galling Injury,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inseparable mates: and the dread Oath;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A mighty bane to him of earth-born men</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who wilful swears, and perjured is forsworn.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Sea with Earth embracing, Nereus rose,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a>Eldest of all his race: unerring seer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And true: with filial veneration named</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Ancient of Years: for mild and blameless he:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Remembering still the right; still merciful</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As just in counsels. <a id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a>Then rose Thaumas vast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_167" href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a>Phorcys the mighty, Ceto fair of cheek,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And stern Eurybia, of an iron soul.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From Nereus and the fair-hair’d Doris, nymph</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of ocean’s perfect stream, the lovely race</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of goddess Nereids rose to light, whose haunt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is midst the waters of the sterile main:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Eucrate, Proto, Thetis, Amphitrite,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Love-breathing Thália, Sao, and Eudora,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And Spio, skimming with light feet the wave:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Galene, Glauce, and Cymothöe:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Agave, and the graceful Melita:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_168" href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a>Rose-arm’d Eunice, and Eulimene:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pasithea, Doto, Erato, Pherusa,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nesæa, Cranto, and Dynamene:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Protomedía, Doris, and Actæa:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Panope, and Galatæa fair:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rose-arm’d Hipponöe: soft Hippothöe:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cymodoce who calms, at once, the waves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the dark sea, and blasts of heaven-breathed winds:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With whom Cymatolége, and the nymph</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of beauteous ankles Amphitrite glide:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cymo, Eïone, Liagore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Halimede, with her sea-green wreath:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pontoporïa, and Polynome;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Evagore, and blithe Glauconome:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Laomedía, and Evarne blest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With gracious nature and with faultless form:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Lysianassa, and Autonome,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Psamathe, with shape of comeliness:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Divine Menippe, Neso, and Themistho:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Pronöe, and Eupompe, and Nemertes:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full of her deathless sire’s prophetic soul.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These sprang from blameless Nereus: <a id="FNanchor_169" href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a>Nereid nymphs:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who midst the waters ply their blameless tasks.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Electra, nymph of the deep-flowing ocean,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Embraced with Thaumas: rapid Iris thence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rose, and Aëllo and Ocypetes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_170" href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a>The sister-harpies, fair with streaming locks:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who track the breezy winds and flights of birds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On wings of swiftness hovering nigh the heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then Ceto, fair of cheek, to Phorcys bore</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[128]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_171" href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a>The Graiæ; from their birth-hour gray: and hence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their name with gods, and men that walk the earth:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Long-robed Pephredo, saffron-veil’d Enýo:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Gorgons dwelling on the brink of night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the sounding main: where silver-voiced</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ Hesperian maidens in their watches sing:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stheno, Euryale, Medusa these:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The last ill-fated, since of mortal date:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The two immortal, and unchanged by years.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>[129]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet her alone the blue-hair’d god of waves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Enfolded, on the tender meadow grass,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bedded flowers of spring: <a id="FNanchor_172" href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a>when Perseus smote</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her neck, and snatch’d the sever’d bleeding head,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>[130]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_173" href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a>The great Chrysaor then leap’d into life:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_174" href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a>And Pegasus the steed; who born beside</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[131]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_175" href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a>Old Nilus’ fountains thence derived a name.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Chrysaor, grasping in his hands a sword</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[132]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of gold, flew upward on the winged horse:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And left beneath him earth, mother of flocks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soar’d to heaven’s immortals: and there dwells</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In palaces of Jove, and to the god</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep-counsell’d bears the bolt and arrowy flame.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Chrysaor with Callirhöe, blending love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nymph of sonorous ocean, <a id="FNanchor_176" href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a>Geryon rose,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Three headed form: him the strong Hercules</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Despoil’d of life among his hoof-cloven herds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On Erythia, girdled by the wave:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What time those oxen ample-brow’d he drove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To sacred Tyrinth, the broad ocean frith</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Once past: and Orthrus, the grim herd-dog, stretch’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lifeless; and in their murky den beyond</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The billows of the long-resounding deep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The keeper of those herds, Eurytion, slain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Another monster Ceto bare anon</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_177" href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a>In the deep-hollow’d cavern of a rock:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[134]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Stupendous nor in shape resembling aught</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of human or of heavenly; the divine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Echidna, the untameable of soul:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Above, a nymph with beauty-blooming cheeks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And eyes of jetty lustre; but below,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A speckled serpent horrible and huge,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gorged with blood-banquets, monstrous, hid in caves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of sacred earth. There in the uttermost depth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her cavern is, within a vaulted rock:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alike from mortals and immortals deep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Remote: the gods have there decreed her place</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In mansions known to fame. So pent beneath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rocks of Arima Echidna dwelt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hideous: a nymph immortal, and in youth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unchanged for evermore. But legends tell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That with the jet-eyed nymph Typhaon mix’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His fierce embrace: <a id="FNanchor_178" href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a>a whirlwind rude and wild:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[135]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">She, fill’d with love, conceived a progeny</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of strain undaunted. Geryon’s dog of herds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Orthrus, the first arose: the second birth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unutterable, was the dog of hell:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Blood-fed and brazen-voiced, and bold and strong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_179" href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a>The fifty-headed Cerberus; and third</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Upsprang the Hydra, pest of Lerna’s lake:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom Juno, white-arm’d goddess, fostering rear’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With deep resentment fill’d, insatiable,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">’Gainst Hercules: but he, the son of Jove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Named of Amphytrion, in the dragon’s gore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bathed his unpitying steel: by warlike aid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Iolaus, and the counsels high</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Pallas the Despoiler. Last came forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_180" href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a>Chimæra, breathing fire unquenchable:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A monster grim and huge, and swift and strong:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her’s were three heads: a glaring lion’s one:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One of a goat: a mighty snake’s the third:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In front the lion threatened, and behind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The serpent, and the goat was in the midst,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Exhaling fierce the strength of burning flame.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But the wing’d Pegasus his rider bore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The brave Bellerophon, and laid her dead.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>[137]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">She, grasp’d by forced embrace of Orthrus, gave</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_181" href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a>Depopulating Sphinx, the mortal plague</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Cadmian nations: and the lion bare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Named of Nemæa. Him Jove’s glorious spouse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To fierceness rear’d: and placed his secret lair</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Among Nemæa’s hills, the pest of men.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There lurking in his haunts he long ensnared</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The roving tribes of man, and held stern sway</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er cavern’d Tretum: o’er the mountain heights</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Apesantus, and Nemæa’s wilds:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till strong Alcides quell’d his gasping strength.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now Ceto, in embrace with Phorcys, bare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her youngest born: the dreadful snake, that couch’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the dark earth’s abyss, his wide domain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Holds o’er the golden apples wakeful guard.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_182" href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a>Tethys to Ocean brought the rivers forth,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>[138]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In whirlpool waters roll’d: Eridanus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep-eddied, and Alpheus, and the Nile:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fair-flowing Ister, Strymon, and Meander,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Phasis and Rhesus: Achelous bright</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With silver-circled tides: Heptaporus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Nessus: Haliacmon and Rhodíus:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Granícus and the heavenly Simois:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Æsapus, Hermus, and Sangarius vast:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Penéus, and Caicus smoothly flowing:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Ladon, and Parthenius, and Evenus:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ardescus, and Scamander the divine.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then bore she a blest race of Naiad nymphs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who with the rivers and the king of day</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er the wide earth <a id="FNanchor_183" href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a>claim the shorn locks of youth:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their portion this and privilege from Jove.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Admete, Pitho, Doris and Ianthe:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Urania heavenly-fair: and Clymene:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prymno, Electra, and Calliröe:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rhodía, Hippo, and Pasithöe:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Plexaure, Clytie, and Melobosis:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Idya, Thöe, Xeuxo, Galaxaure:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And amiable Dione, and Circeis</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of nature soft, and Polydora fair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_184" href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a>And Ploto, with the bright dilated eyes:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[140]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Perseis, Ianira, and Acaste:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Xanthe, the sweet Petræa, saffron-robed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Telestho, Metis, and Eurynome:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Crisie, and Menestho, and Europa:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lovely Calypso, Amphiro, Eudora:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[141]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Asia, and Tyche, and Ocyröe:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Styx, the chief of oceanic streams.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The daughters these of Tethys and of Ocean,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The eldest-born: for more untold remain:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Three-thousand graceful Oceanides</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_185" href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a>Long-stepping tread the earth: or far and wide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dispersed, they haunt <a id="FNanchor_186" href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a>the glassy depth of lakes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A glorious sisterhood of goddess birth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As many rivers also, yet untold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rushing with hollow-dashing echoes, rose</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[142]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">From awful Tethys: but their every name</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is not for mortal man to memorate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arduous; yet known to all the borderers round.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now Thia, yielding to Hyperion’s arms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bare the great Sun and the refulgent Moon:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Morn, that scatters wide the rosy light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To men that walk the earth, and deathless gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose mansion is yon ample firmament.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Eurybia, noble goddess, blending love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With Crius, gave the great Astræus birth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pallas the god, and Perses, wise in lore.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Morning to Astræus bare the Winds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of spirit untamed: <a id="FNanchor_187" href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a>East, West, and South, and North</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[143]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Cleaving his rapid course: a goddess thus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Embracing with a god. Last, Lucifer</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sprang radiant from the dawn-appearing Morn:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the glittering stars that gird the heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Styx, ocean-nymph, with Pallas mingling love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bare Victory, whose feet are beautiful</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In palaces: and Zeal, and Strength, and Force,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Illustrious children. <a id="FNanchor_188" href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a>Not apart from Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their mansion is: nor is there seat, or way,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>[144]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But he before them in his glory sits</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or passes forth: and where the Thunderer is,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their place is found for ever. So devised</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The nymph of Ocean, the eternal Styx:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What time the Lightning-sender call’d from heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And summon’d all th’ immortal deities</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To broad Olympus’ top: then thus he spake:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Hear all ye gods! That god who wars with me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Against the Titans, shall retain the gifts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which Saturn gave, and honours heretofore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His portion midst th’ immortals: and whoe’er</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unhonour’d and ungifted has repined</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Under Saturnian sway, the same shall rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“As just it is, to honours and rewards.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then first of every power eternal Styx,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sway’d by the careful counsels of her sire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stood on Olympus, and her sons beside:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her Jove received with honour, and endow’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With goodly gifts: ordain’d her the great oath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of deities: her sons for evermore</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[145]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Indwellers with himself. Alike to all,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Even as he pledged that sacred word, the god</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perform’d; so reigns he, strong in power and might.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now Phœbe sought the love-delighting couch</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Cœus: so within a god’s embrace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Conceived the goddess. Then arose to life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The azure-robed Latona: ever mild:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gracious to man and to immortal gods:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mild from the first beginning of the world:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gentlest of all within th’ Olympian courts.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Anon she bare <a id="FNanchor_189" href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a>Asteria, blest in fame:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom Perses to his spacious palace led,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That he might call her spouse: and <a id="FNanchor_190" href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a>she conceived</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With Hecaté. Her o’er all others Jove</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[146]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Hath honour’d, and endow’d with splendid gifts:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With power on earth and o’er the untill’d sea:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor less her glory from the starry heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Chief honour’d by immortals: and if one</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of earthly men performing the due rite</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of victim divination, would appease</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The gods above, he calls on Hecaté:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To him, whose prayer the goddess gracious hears,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">High honour comes spontaneous, and to him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She yields all affluence; for the power is hers.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whatever gods, the sons of heaven and earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shared honour at the hands of Jove, o’er all</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_191" href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a>Her wide allotment stands: nor whatsoe’er</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[148]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of rank she held, midst the old Titan gods,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has Saturn’s son invaded or deprived;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As was the ancient heritage of power</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So hers remains: e’en from the first of things.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor is <a id="FNanchor_192" href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a>her solitary birth reproach:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor less, though singly born, her rank and power</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In heaven and earth and main, but higher meed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of glory, since her honour is from Jove.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She, in the greatness of her power, is nigh</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With aid to whom she lists: whoe’er she wills</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er the great council of the people shines:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when the mailed men arise to wage</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Destroying battle, she to whom she lists</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is present, yielding victory and fame;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on the judgment-seat with awful kings</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She sits; and when in the gymnastic strife</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Men struggle, the propitious goddess comes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Present with aid: then easily the man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Conqueror in hardiment and strength, obtains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The graceful wreath, and glad-triumphing sheds</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a>[149]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_193" href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a>A gleam of glory o’er his parents’ days.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She, as she lists, is nigh to charioteers</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who strive with steeds: and voyagers who cleave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through the blue watery vast th’ untractable way.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They call upon the name of Hecaté</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With vows: and his, loud-sounding god of waves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth-shaker Neptune. Easily at will</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The glorious goddess yields the woodland prey</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Abundant: easily, while scarce they start</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On the mock’d vision, snatches them in flight.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She too with Hermes is propitious found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To herd and fold: and bids increase the droves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Innumerable of goats and woolly flocks,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150"></a>[150]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And swells their numbers or their numbers thins.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thus, although her mother’s lonely child,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She midst th’ immortals shares all attributes.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her Jove appointed nursing-mother bland</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of babes, who after her to morn’s broad light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should lift the tender lid: so from the first</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The foster-nurse of babes: her honours these.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Embraced by Saturn, Rhea gave to light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Illustrious children. <a id="FNanchor_194" href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a>Golden-sandal’d Juno,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_195" href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a>Ceres, and Vesta: <a id="FNanchor_196" href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a>Pluto strong, who dwells</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In mansions under earth: of ruthless heart;</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_197" href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a>Earth-shaker Neptune, loud with dashing waves:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[152]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And <a id="FNanchor_198" href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a>Jupiter th’ all-wise: the sire of gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And men; beneath whose crashing thunder-peal</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wide earth rocks in elemental war.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But them, as issuing from the sacred womb</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They touch’d the mother’s knees, did Saturn huge</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Devour: revolving in his troubled thought</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[153]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest other one of beings heavenly-born</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Usurp the kingly honours. For from earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And starry heaven the rumour met his ear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That it was doom’d by Fate, strong though he were,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_199" href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a>To his own son he should bow down his strength.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[154]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Jove’s wisdom this fulfill’d. No blind design</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He therefore cherish’d, and in crooked craft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Devour’d his children. But on Rhea prey’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Never-forgotten anguish. When the time</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was full, and Jove, the sire of gods and men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came to the birth, her parents she besought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth and starr’d Heaven, that they should counsel yield</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How secretly the babe may spring to life:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And how the father’s furies ’gainst his race</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In subtlety devour’d may meet revenge:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They to their daughter listen’d and complied:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unfolding what the Fates had sure decreed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of kingly Saturn and his dauntless son:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And her they sent to Lyctus: to the clime</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of fallow’d Crete. Now when her time was come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The birth of Jove her youngest-born, vast Earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Took to herself the mighty babe, to rear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With nurturing softness in the spacious isle</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Crete. So came she then, transporting him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With the swift shades of night, to Lyctus first:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thence, upbearing in her arms, conceal’d</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the sacred ground, in sunless cave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where shagg’d with thickening woods th’ Egæan mount</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Impends. Then swathing an enormous stone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She placed it in the hands of Heaven’s huge son,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ancient king of gods: that stone he snatch’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in his ravening breast convey’d away:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wretch! nor bethought him that the stone supplied</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His own son’s place; survivor in its room,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unconquer’d and unharm’d: the same, who soon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Subduing him with mightiness of arm,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should drive him from his state, and reign himself</div> - <div class="verse indent0">King of immortals. Swiftly grew the strength</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hardy limbs of that same kingly babe:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when the great year had fulfill’d its round,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gigantic Saturn, wily as he was,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet foil’d by Earth’s considerate craft, and quell’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By his son’s arts and strength, released his race:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The stone he first disgorged, the last devour’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This Jove on earth’s broad surface firmly fix’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At Pythos the divine, in the deep cleft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of high Parnassus: <a id="FNanchor_200" href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a>to succeeding times</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A monument, and miracle to man.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[156]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The brethren of his father too he loosed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom Heaven, their sire, had in his frenzy bound:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They the good deed in grateful memory bore:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And gave the thunder, and the burning bolt,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lightning, which vast Earth had heretofore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hid in her central caves. In these confides</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The god, and reigns o’er deities and men.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Iäpetus ascends the bed of love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With Clýmene, fair-ankled ocean-nymph:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She brought forth Atlas: her undaunted son:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Glorying Menœtius and Prometheus vers’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In changeful turns and shifting subtleties:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Epimetheus of unwary mind:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who from old time became an evil curse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To man’s inventive race; for he received</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The clay-form’d virgin-woman sent from Jove.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All-seeing Jove struck with his smouldering flash</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[157]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Haughty Menœtius, and cast down to hell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shameless in crime and arrogant in strength.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Atlas, enforced by stern necessity,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_201" href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a>Props the broad heaven: on earth’s far borders, where</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full opposite th’ Hesperian virgins sing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With shrill sweet voice, he rears his head and hands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aye unfatiguable: Heaven’s counsellor</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So doom’d his lot. But with enduring chains</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_202" href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a>He bound Prometheus, train’d in shifting wiles,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[158]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">With galling shackles fixing him aloft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Midway a column. Down he sent from high</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His eagle hovering on expanded wings:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She gorged his liver: still beneath her beak</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Immortal; for it sprang with life, and grew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the night-season, and repair’d the waste</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of what the wide-wing’d bird devour’d by day.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But her the fair Alcmena’s hardy son</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Slew; from Prometheus drove the cruel plague,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And freed him from his pangs. Olympian Jove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who reigns on high, consented to the deed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That thence yet higher glory might arise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er peopled earth, to Hercules of Thebes:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in his honour, Jove now made to cease</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wrath he felt before; ’gainst him who strove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In wisdom e’en with Saturn’s mighty son.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of yore when strife arose for sacrifice,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Twixt gods and men, within Mecona’s walls,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prometheus wilful <a id="FNanchor_203" href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a>parted a huge ox</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[159]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And set before the god: so tempting him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With purpose to deceive: for here he laid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The unctuous substance, entrails, and the flesh</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Close cover’d with the belly of the hide:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There the white bones he craftily disposed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with the marrowy substance wrapt them round.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then spake the father of the gods and men:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Son of Iäpetus!” thou famous god!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How partial, friend! are thy divided shares!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So in rebuke spoke Jupiter: whose thoughts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of wisdom perish not. Then answer’d him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wily Prometheus, with a laugh suppress’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And well remembering his insidious fraud:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Hail glorious Jove! thou mightiest of the gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who shall endure for ever: choose the one</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which now the spirit in thy breast persuades.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He spoke, revolving treachery. Jove, whose thoughts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of wisdom perish never, knew the guile,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[160]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Not unforewarn’d: and straight his soul devised</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Evil to mortals, that should surely be:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He raised the snowy portion with his hands,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And felt his spirit wroth: yea, anger seiz’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His spirit, when he saw the whitening bones</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’erlaid with cunning artifice: and thence,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en from that hour, the dwellers upon earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Consume the whitening bones, when climbs the smoke</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wreath’d from their flaming altars. Then again</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cloud-gatherer Jove with indignation spake:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Son of Iäpetus! of all most wise!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still, friend! rememberest thou thy arts of guile?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So spake, incensed, the god, whose wisdom yields</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To no decay: and from that very hour,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Remembering still the treachery, he denied</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The strength of indefatigable fire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To all the dwellers upon earth. But him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Benevolent Prometheus did beguile:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For in a hollow reed he stole from high</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The far-seen splendour of unwearied flame.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then deep resentment stung the Thunderer’s soul;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And his heart chafed in anger, when he saw</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fire far-gleaming in the midst of men.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And for the flame restored, he straight devised</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161"></a>[161]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">A mischief to mankind. At Jove’s behest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Famed Vulcan fashion’d from the yielding clay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A bashful virgin’s likeness: and the maid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of azure eyes, Minerva, round her waist</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clasp’d the broad zone, and dress’d her limbs in robe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of flowing whiteness; placed upon her head</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A wondrous veil of variegated threads;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Entwined amidst her hair delicious wreaths</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of verdant herbage and fresh-blooming flowers;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And set a golden mitre on her brow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which Vulcan framed, and with adorning hands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wrought, at the pleasure of his father Jove.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rich-labour’d figures, marvellous to sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Enchased the border: forms of beasts that range</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The earth, and fishes of the rolling deep:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of these innumerable he there had graven;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And exquisite the beauty of his art</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shone in these wonders, like to animals</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Moving in breath, with vocal sounds of life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now when his plastic hand instead of good</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had framed this beauteous bane, he led her forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where were the other gods and mingled men.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She went exulting in her graced array,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which Pallas, daughter of a mighty sire,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162"></a>[162]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Known by her eyes of azure, had bestow’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On gods and men in that same moment seiz’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ravishment of wonder, when they saw</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The deep deceit, th’ inextricable snare.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From her the sex of tender woman springs:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_204" href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a>Pernicious is the race: the woman tribe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dwell upon earth, a mighty bane to men:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No mates for wasting want, but luxury:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And as within the close-roof’d hive, the drones,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Helpers of sloth, are pamper’d by the bees;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These all the day, till sinks the ruddy sun,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163"></a>[163]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Haste on the wing, “their murmuring labours ply,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still cement the white and waxen comb:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those lurk within the cover’d hive, and reap</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With glutted maw the fruits of others’ toil;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such evil did the Thunderer send to man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In woman’s form, and so he gave the sex,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ill helpmates of intolerable toils.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet more of ill instead of good he gave:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The man who shunning wedlock thinks to shun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The vexing cares that haunt the woman-state,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lonely waxes old, shall feel the want</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of one to foster his declining years:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though not his life be needy, yet his death</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall scatter his possessions to strange heirs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And aliens from his blood. Or if his lot</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be marriage, and his spouse of modest fame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Congenial to his heart, e’en then shall ill</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For ever struggle with the partial good,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cling to his condition. But the man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who gains the woman of injurious kind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lives bearing in his secret soul and heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inevitable sorrow: ills so deep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As all the balms of medicine cannot cure.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Therefore it is not lawful to elude</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164"></a>[164]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The eye of Heaven, nor mock th’ Omniscient Mind.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For not Prometheus, the benevolent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could shun Heaven’s heavy wrath: and vain were all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His arts of various wisdom: vain to ’scape</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Necessity, or loose the mighty chain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When Heaven their sire ’gainst Cottus, Briareus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Gyges, felt his moody anger chafe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within him, sore amazed with that their strength</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Immeasurable, their aspect fierce, and bulk</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gigantic, with a chain of iron force</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He bound them down; and fix’d their dwelling-place</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the spacious ground: beneath the ground</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They dwelt in pain and durance: in th’ abyss</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There sitting, where earth’s utmost bound’ries end.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full long oppress’d with mighty grief of heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They brooded o’er their woes: but them did Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Saturnian, and those other deathless gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom fair-hair’d Rhea bare to Saturn’s love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By policy of Earth, lead forth again</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To light. For she successive all things told:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How with the giant brethren they should win</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Conquest and splendid glory. Long they fought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With toil soul-harrowing: they the deities</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Titanic and Saturnian: each to each</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165"></a>[165]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Opposed, in valour of promiscuous war.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Othrys’ lofty summit warr’d <a id="FNanchor_205" href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a>the host</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of glorious Titans: from Olympus they,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a>[166]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The band of gift-dispensing deities</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom fair-hair’d Rhea bore to Saturn’s love.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167"></a>[167]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">So waged they war soul-harrowing: each with each</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ten years and more the furious battle join’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unintermitted: nor to either host</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was issue of stern strife or end: alike</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did either stretch the limit of the war.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But now when Jove had set before his powers</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All things befitting; the repast of gods;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The nectar and ambrosia, in each breast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ heroic spirit kindled: and now all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With nectar and with sweet ambrosia fill’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus spake the father of the gods and men:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Hear me! illustrious race of Earth and Heaven!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That what the spirit in my bosom prompts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I now may utter. Long, and day by day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Confronting each the other, we have fought</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168"></a>[168]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">For conquest and dominion: Titan gods,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And we the seed of Saturn. Still do ye,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fronting the Titans in funereal war,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Show mighty strength: invulnerable hands:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Remembering that mild friendship, and those pangs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Remembering, when ye trod the upward way</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Back to the light: and by our counsels broke</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The burthening chain, and left the murky gloom.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He spake: and Cottus brave of soul replied:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Oh Jove august! not darkly hast thou said:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor know we not how excellent thou art</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In counsel and in knowledge: thou hast been</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deliverer of immortals from a curse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of horror: by thy wisdom have we risen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh kingly son of Saturn! from dark gloom</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bitter bonds, unhoping of relief.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then with persisting spirit and device</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of prudent warfare, shall we still assert</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy empire midst the fearful fray, and still</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In hardy conflict brave the Titan foe.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He said: the gods, the givers of all good,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heard with acclaim: nor ever till that hour</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So burn’d each breast with ardour to destroy.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All on that day stirr’d up the mighty strife,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[169]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Female and male: Titanic gods, and sons</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And daughters of old Saturn; and that band</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of giant brethren, whom, from forth th’ abyss</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of darkness under earth, deliverer Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sent up to light: grim forms and strong, with force</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gigantic: arms of hundred-handed gripe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Burst from their shoulders: fifty heads up-sprang,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cresting their muscular limbs. They thus opposed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In dreadful conflict ’gainst the Titans stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In all their sinewy hands <a id="FNanchor_206" href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a>wielding aloft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Precipitous rocks. On th’ other side, alert</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Titan phalanx closed: then hands of strength</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Join’d prowess, and show’d forth the works of war.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ immeasurable sea tremendous dash’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With roaring; earth re-echoed; the broad heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Groan’d shattering: vast Olympus reel’d throughout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Down to its rooted base beneath the rush</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of those immortals: the <a id="FNanchor_207" href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a>dark chasm of hell</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170"></a>[170]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Was shaken with the trembling, with the tramp</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of hollow footsteps and strong battle-strokes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And measureless uproar of wild pursuit.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So they against each other through the air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hurl’d intermix’d their weapons, scattering groans</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where’er they fell. The voice of armies rose</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With rallying shout through the starr’d firmament,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with a mighty war-cry both the hosts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Encountering closed. Nor longer then did Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Curb down his force; but sudden in his soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There grew dilated strength, and it was fill’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With his omnipotence: <a id="FNanchor_208" href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a>his whole of might</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Broke from him, and the godhead rush’d abroad.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171"></a>[171]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The vaulted sky, the mount Olympus, flash’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With his continual presence; for he pass’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Incessant forth, and lighten’d where he trod.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thrown from his nervous grasp the lightnings flew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Reiterated swift; the whirling flash</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cast sacred splendour, and the thunderbolt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fell. Then on every side the foodful earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Roar’d in the burning flame, and far and near</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The trackless depth of forests crash’d with fire.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yea—the broad earth burn’d red, the floods of Nile</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Glow’d, and the desert waters of the sea.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Round and around the Titans’ earthy forms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Roll’d the hot vapour, and on fiery surge</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stream’d upward, swathing in one boundless blaze</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The purer air of heaven. Keen rush’d the light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In quivering splendour from the writhen flash:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strong though they were, intolerable smote</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their orbs of sight, and with bedimming glare</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172"></a>[172]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Scorch’d up their blasted vision. <a id="FNanchor_209" href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a>Through the void</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Erebus, the preternatural flame</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Spread, mingling fire with darkness. But to see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With human eye and hear with ear of man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had been, as on a time <a id="FNanchor_210" href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a>the heaven and earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Met hurtling in mid-air: as nether earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Crash’d from the centre, and the wreck of heaven</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173"></a>[173]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Fell ruining from high. Not less, when gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Grappled with gods, the shout and clang of arms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Commingled, and the tumult roar’d from heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shrill rush’d the hollow winds, and roused throughout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A shaking and a gathering dark of dust;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Crushing the thunders from the clouds of air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hot thunderbolts and flames, the fiery darts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Jove: and in the midst of either host</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They bore upon their blast the cry confused</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of battle, and the shouting. For the din</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tumultuous of that sight-appalling strife</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rose without bound. Stern strength of hardy proof</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wreak’d there its deeds, till weary sank the fight.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But first, array’d in battle, front to front,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full long they stood, and bore the brunt of war.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amid the foremost, towering in the van,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_211" href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a>The war-unsated Gyges, Briareus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Cottus, bitterest conflict waged: for they</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174"></a>[174]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Successive thrice a hundred rocks in air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hurl’d from their sinewy grasp: with missile storm</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_212" href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a>The Titan host o’ershadowing, them they drove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Vain-glorious as they were, with hands of strength</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’ercoming them, beneath th’ expanse of earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bound with galling chains: <a id="FNanchor_213" href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a>so far beneath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This earth, as earth is distant from the sky:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So deep the space to darksome Tartarus.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A brazen anvil rushing from the sky</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through thrice three days would toss in airy whirl,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor touch this earth, till the tenth sun arose:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or down earth’s chasm precipitate revolve,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor till the tenth sun rose attain <a id="FNanchor_214" href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a>the verge</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Tartarus. A fence of massive brass</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175"></a>[175]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Is forged around: around the pass is roll’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A night of triple darkness; and above</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Impend the roots of earth and barren sea.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There the Titanic gods in murkiest gloom</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lie hidden: such the cloud-assembler’s will:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There in a place of darkness, where vast earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has end: from thence no egress open lies:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Neptune’s huge hand has closed with brazen gates</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mouth: a wall environs every side.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There Gyges, Cottus, high-souled Briareus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dwell vigilant: the faithful sentinels</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Ægis-bearer Jove. Successive there</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176"></a>[176]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The dusky Earth, and darksome Tartarus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sterile Ocean, and the starry Heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_215" href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a>Arise and end, their source and boundary.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_216" href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a>A drear and ghastly wilderness, abhorr’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en by the gods; a vast vacuity:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might none the space of one slow-circling year</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Touch the firm soil, that portal enter’d once,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_217" href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a>But him the whirls of vexing hurricanes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Toss to and fro. E’en by immortals loathed</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177"></a>[177]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">This prodigy of horror. There too stand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mansions drear of gloomy Night, o’erspread</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With blackening vapours: and before the doors</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Atlas upholding heaven his forehead rears,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And indefatigable hands. There Night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Day, near passing, mutual greeting still</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Exchange, <a id="FNanchor_218" href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a>alternate as they glide athwart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The brazen threshold vast. This enters, that</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forth issues; nor the two can one abode</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178"></a>[178]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">At once constrain. This passes forth and roams</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The round of earth; that in the mansion waits,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till the due season of her travel come.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! from the one the far-discerning light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beams upon earthly dwellers; but a cloud</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of pitchy blackness veils the other round:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pernicious Night: aye-leading in her hand</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_219" href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a>Sleep, Death’s half-brother: sons of gloomy Night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There hold they habitation, Death and Sleep;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dread deities: <a id="FNanchor_220" href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a>nor them the shining Sun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’er with his beam contemplates, when he climbs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The cope of heaven, or when from heaven descends.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of these the one glides gentle o’er the space</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179"></a>[179]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of earth and broad expanse of ocean waves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Placid to man. The other has a heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of iron; yea, the heart within his breast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is brass, unpitying: whom of men he grasps</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stern he retains: e’en <a id="FNanchor_221" href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a>to immortal gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A foe. The hollow-sounding palaces</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Pluto strong the subterranean god,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_222" href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a>And stern Prosérpina, there full in front</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ascend: a grisly dog, implacable,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180"></a>[180]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Holds watch before the gates: a stratagem</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is his, malicious: them who enter there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With tail and bended ears he fawning soothes:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But suffers not that they with backward step</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Repass: whoe’er would issue from the gates</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Pluto strong and stern Prosérpina,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For them with marking eye he lurks; on them</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Springs from his couch, and pitiless devours.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There, odious to immortals, dreadful Styx</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inhabits: refluent Ocean’s eldest-born:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She from the gods apart for ever dwells</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In far-re-echoing mansions, <a id="FNanchor_223" href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a>with arch’d roofs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of loftiest rock o’erhung: and all around</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181"></a>[181]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The silver columns lean upon the skies.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Swift-footed Iris, nymph of Thaumas born,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Takes with no frequent embassy her way</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er the broad main’s expanse, when haply strife</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be risen, and midst the gods dissension sown:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if there be among th’ Olympian race</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who falsehood utters, <a id="FNanchor_224" href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a>Jove sends Iris down</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To bring the great oath in a golden ewer:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The far-famed water, from steep, sky-capt rock</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Distilling in cold stream. Beneath wide Earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Abundant from <a id="FNanchor_225" href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a>the sacred river-head,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182"></a>[182]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Through shades of blackest night, the Stygian horn</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of ocean flows: a tenth of all the streams</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To the dread oath allotted. In nine streams</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Circling the round of earth and the broad seas,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With silver whirlpools twined in many a maze,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It falls into the deep: one stream alone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flows from the rock; a mighty bane to gods.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who of immortals, that inhabit still</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Olympus top’d with snow, <a id="FNanchor_226" href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a>libation pours</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And is forsworn, he one whole year entire</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183"></a>[183]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Lies reft of breath: nor yet approaches once</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The nectar’d and ambrosial sweet repast:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But still reclines on the spread festive couch</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mute, breathless; and a mortal lethargy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’erwhelms him: but, his malady absolved</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With the great round of the revolving year,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More ills on ills afflictive seize: nine years</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From ever-living deities remote</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His lot is cast: in council nor in feast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Once joins he, till nine years entire are full:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tenth again he mingles with the blest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Societies, who fill th’ Olympian courts.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So great an oath the deities of heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Decreed the water of eternal Styx,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ancient stream; that sweeps with wandering waves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A rugged region: where of dusky Earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And darksome Tartarus, and Ocean waste,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And starry Heaven, the source and boundary</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Successive rise and end: a dreary wild</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ghastly: e’en by deities abhorr’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There gates resplendent rise; the threshold brass;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184"></a>[184]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Immoveable; on deep foundations fix’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Self-framed. Before them the Titanic gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Abide, without th’ assembly of the Blest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the gulf of darkness. There beneath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ocean-roots, th’ auxiliaries renown’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Jove who rolls the hollow-pealing thunder,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cottus and Gyges in near mansions dwell:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But He that shakes the shores with dashing surge</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hailing him son, gave Briareus as bride</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cymopolía; prize of brave desert.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But now when Jupiter from all the heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had cast the Titans forth, huge Earth embraced</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By Tartarus, through balmy Venus’ aid,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_227" href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a>Her youngest-born Typhœus bore; whose hands</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185"></a>[185]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of strength are fitted to stupendous deeds:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And indefatigable are the feet</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186"></a>[186]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the strong god: and from his shoulders rise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A hundred snaky heads of dragon growth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Horrible, quivering with their blackening tongues:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In each amazing head, from eyes that roll’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within their sockets, fire shone sparkling: fire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Blazed from each head, the whilst he roll’d his glance</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Glaring around him. In those fearful heads</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were voices of all sound, miraculous:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now utter’d they distinguishable tones</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Meet for the ear of gods: now the deep cry</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of a wild-bellowing bull untamed in strength:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And now the roaring of a lion, fierce</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In spirit: and anon the yell of whelps</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strange to the ear: and now the monster hiss’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That the high mountains echoed back the sound.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then had a dread event that fatal day</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187"></a>[187]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Inevitable fall’n, and he had ruled</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er mortals and immortals; but the Sire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of gods and men the peril instant knew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Intuitive; and vehement and strong</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He thunder’d: instantaneous all around</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth reel’d with horrible crash: the firmament</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of high heaven roar’d: the streams of Nile, the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And uttermost caverns. While the king in wrath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Uprose, <a id="FNanchor_228" href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a>beneath his everlasting feet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The great Olympus trembled, and earth groan’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From either god a burning radiance caught</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The darkly azured ocean: from the flash</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of lightnings, and that monster’s darted flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hot thunderbolts, and blasts of fiery winds.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth, air, sea, glow’d: the billows, heaved on high,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188"></a>[188]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Foam’d round the shores, and dash’d on every side</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the rush of gods. Concussion wild</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And unappeasable uprose: aghast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The gloomy monarch of th’ infernal dead</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shudder’d: the sub-tartarean Titans heard</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en where they stood, with Saturn in the midst:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They heard appall’d the unextinguish’d rage</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of tumult, and the din of dreadful war.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But now when Jove had gather’d all his strength,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And grasp’d his weapons, bolts, and bickering flames,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He from the mount Olympus’ topmost ridge</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Leap’d at a bound, and smote him: hiss’d at once</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The horrible monster’s heads enormous, scorch’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In one conflagrant blaze. When thus the god</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had quell’d him, thunder-smitten, mangled, prone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He fell: earth groan’d and shook beneath his weight.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flame from <a id="FNanchor_229" href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a>the lightning-stricken deity</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flash’d, midst the mountain-hollows, rugged, dark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where he fell smitten. Broad earth glow’d intense</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From that unbounded vapour, and dissolv’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As fusile tin by art of youths above</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wide-brimm’d vase up-bubbling foams with heat;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189"></a>[189]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Or iron, hardest of the mine, subdued</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By burning flame amidst <a id="FNanchor_230" href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a>the woody dales</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Melts in the sacred caves beneath the hands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Vulcan, so earth melted in the glare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of blazing fire. He down wide Hell’s abyss</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His victim hurl’d in bitterness of soul.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_231" href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a>Lo! from Typhœus is the strength of winds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Moist-blowing: save the South, North, East, and West:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_232" href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a>These born from gods, a blessing great to man:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those, unavailing gusts, o’er the waste sea</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Breathe barren: with sore peril fraught to man:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In whirlpool rage fall black upon the deep:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now here, now there, they rush with stormy gale,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scatter the rolling barks, and whelm in death</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mariner: an evil succourless</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To men, who midst the ocean-ways their blast</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190"></a>[190]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Encounter. They again o’er all th’ expanse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of flowery earth the pleasant works of man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Despoil, and fill the blacken’d air with cloud</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of eddying dust and hollow rustlings drear.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now had the blessed Powers of Heaven fulfill’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their toils, for meed of glory ’gainst the gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Titanic striving in their strength: and now,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth-counsell’d, they exhort Olympian Jove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of wide beholding eyes, to regal sway</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And empire o’er immortals: he to them</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Due honours portion’d with an equal hand.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">First as a bride the Monarch of the gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_233" href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a>Led Metis: her o’er deities and men</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191"></a>[191]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Vers’d in all knowledge. But when now the time</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was full, that she should bear <a id="FNanchor_234" href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a>the blue-eyed maid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Minerva, he with treacheries of smooth speech</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beguiled her thought, and hid his spouse away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In his own breast: so Earth and starry Heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had counsell’d: him they both advising warn’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest, in the place of Jove, another seize</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The kingly honour o’er immortal gods.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For so the Fates had destined, that from her</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An offspring should be born, of wisest strain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">First the Tritonian virgin azure-eyed:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192"></a>[192]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of equal might and prudence with her sire:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then a son, king over gods and men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had she brought forth, invincible of soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But Jove in his own breast before that hour</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deposited the goddess: evermore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So warning him of evil and of good.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Next led he shining Themis: and she bare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Order, and Justice, and the blooming Peace,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Hours by name: who perfect all the works</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of human kind: and Destinies, whom Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All-wise array’d with honour: Lachesis,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clotho, and Atropos: who deal to men</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dole of good or ill. To him anon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Old Ocean’s daughter, amiablest of mien,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Eurynome, <a id="FNanchor_235" href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a>brought the three Graces forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beauteous of cheek: Euphrosyne, Aglaia,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Thália blithe: their eye-lids, as they gaze,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drop love, unnerving: and beneath the shade</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193"></a>[193]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of their arch’d brows they steal the sidelong glance</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of sweetness. To the couch anon he came</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of many-nurturing Ceres: Proserpine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The snowy-arm’d she bare: her gloomy Dis</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Snatch’d from her mother, and all-prudent Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Consign’d the prize. Next loved he the fair-hair’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mnemosyne: from her the Muses nine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are born: their brows with golden fillets wreath’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom feasts delight, and rapture sweet of song.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In mingled joy with ægis-wielding Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Latona bore <a id="FNanchor_236" href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a>the arrow-shooting Dian,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Phœbus, loveliest of the heavenly tribe.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He last the blooming Juno led as bride:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And she, embracing with the king of gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And men, bore Mars, and <a id="FNanchor_237" href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a>Hebe, and Lucina.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He from his head disclosed himself to birth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The blue-eyed maid, Tritonian <a id="FNanchor_238" href="#Footnote_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a>Pallas; fierce,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194"></a>[194]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Rousing the war-field’s tumult; unsubdued;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Leader of armies; awful: whom delight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The shout of battle and the shock of war.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Without th’ embrace of love did Juno bear</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_239" href="#Footnote_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a>Illustrious Vulcan, o’er celestials graced</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With arts: and strove contending with her spouse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Emulous. From the god of sounding waves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shaker of earth, and Amphitrite, sprang</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_240" href="#Footnote_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a>Sea-potent Triton huge: beneath the deep</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195"></a>[195]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">He dwells in golden edifice, a god</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of awful might. Now <a id="FNanchor_241" href="#Footnote_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a>Venus gave to Mars,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Breaker of shields, a dreadful offspring: Fear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Consternation: they confound, in rout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of horrid war, the phalanx dense of men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With city-spoiler Mars. <a id="FNanchor_242" href="#Footnote_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a>Harmonia last</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196"></a>[196]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">She bare, whom generous Cadmus clasp’d as bride.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Daughter of Atlas, Maia bore to Jove</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197"></a>[197]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_243" href="#Footnote_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a>The glorious Hermes, herald of the gods;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sacred couch ascending. <a id="FNanchor_244" href="#Footnote_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a>Semele,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198"></a>[198]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Daughter of Cadmus, melting in embrace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With Jove, gave jocund Bacchus to the light:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A mortal an immortal: now alike</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Immortal deities. Alcmena bare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strong Hercules: dissolving in embrace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With the cloud-gatherer Jove. The crippled god,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In arts illustrious, Vulcan, as his bride</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The gay Aglaia led, the youngest Grace.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_245" href="#Footnote_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a>Bacchus of golden hair, his blooming spouse</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199"></a>[199]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Daughter of Minos, Ariadne clasp’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With yellow tresses. Her Saturnian Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Immortal made, and fearless of decay.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fair-limb’d <a id="FNanchor_246" href="#Footnote_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a>Alcmena’s valiant son, achieved</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200"></a>[200]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">His agonizing labours, Hebe led</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A bashful bride, the daughter of great Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Juno golden-sandal’d, on the mount</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Olympus top’d with snow. Thrice blest who thus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A mighty task accomplish’d, midst the gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Uninjur’d dwells, and free from withering age</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For evermore. Perseis, ocean-nymph</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Illustrious, to th’ unwearied Sun produced</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Circe and king Æetes. By the will</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Heaven, Æetes, boasting for his sire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The world-enlightning Sun, Idya led</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cheek-blooming, nymph of ocean’s perfect stream:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And she, to love by balmy Venus’ aid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Subdued, <a id="FNanchor_247" href="#Footnote_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a>Medea beauteous-ankled bare.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201"></a>[201]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And now farewell, ye heavenly habitants!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ye islands, and ye continents of earth!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thou, oh main! of briny wave profound!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh sweet of speech, Olympian Muses! born</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From ægis-wielding Jove! sing now the tribe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of goddesses; whoe’er, by mortals clasp’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In love, have borne a race resembling gods.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ceres, divinest goddess, in soft joy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Blends with Iäsius brave, in the rich tract</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Crete, whose fallow’d glebe thrice-till’d abounds;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And <a id="FNanchor_248" href="#Footnote_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a>Plutus bare, all-bountiful, who roams</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth, and th’ expanded surface of the sea:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And him that meets him on his way, whose hands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He grasps, him gifts he with abundant gold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And large felicity. Harmonia, born</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of lovely Venus, gave to Cadmus’ love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ino and Semele: and fair of cheek</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Agave, and Autonöe, the bride</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Aristæus with the clustering locks;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Polydorus, born in towery Thebes.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202"></a>[202]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Aurora to Tithonus Memnon bare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The brazen-helm’d, the Æthiopian king,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And king Emathion: and to Cephalus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bare she a son illustrious, Phäethon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gallantly brave, a mortal like to gods:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom, while a youth, e’en in the tender flower</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of glorious prime, a boy, and vers’d alone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In what a boy may know, love’s amorous queen</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Snatch’d with swift rape away: in her blest fane</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Appointing him her nightly-serving priest;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The heavenly dæmon of her sanctuary.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_249" href="#Footnote_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a>Jason Æsonides, by heaven’s high will,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203"></a>[203]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Bore from Æetes, foster-son of Jove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His daughter: those afflictive toils achieved,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which Pelias, mighty monarch, bold in wrong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unrighteous, violent of deed, imposed:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And much-enduring reach’d th’ Iolchian coast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wafting in winged bark the jet-eyed maid,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His blooming spouse. She yielding thus in love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Jason, shepherd of his people, bare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Medeus, whom the son of Philyra,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_250" href="#Footnote_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a>Sage Chiron, midst the mountain-solitudes</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204"></a>[204]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Train’d up to man: thus were high Jove’s designs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fulfill’d. Now Psamathe, the goddess famed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who sprang from ancient Nereus of the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bare Phocus; through the lovely Venus’ aid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By Æacus embraced. To Peleus’ arms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Resign’d, the silver-footed Thetis bare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Achilles lion-hearted: cleaving fierce</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ranks of men. Wreath’d Cytherea bare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Æneas: blending in ecstatic love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With brave Anchises on the verdant top</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Ida, wood-embosom’d, many-valed.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now <a id="FNanchor_251" href="#Footnote_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a>Circe, from the Sun Hyperion-born</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Descended, with the much-enduring man</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205"></a>[205]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Ulysses blending love, Latinus bare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Agrius, brave and blameless: far they left</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their native seats in Circe’s hallow’d isles,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And o’er the wide-famed Tyrrhene tribes held sway.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Calypso, noble midst the goddess race,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clasp’d wise Ulysses: and from rapturous love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nausithous and Nausinous gave to day.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lo! these were they, who yielding to embrace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of mortal men, themselves immortal, gave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A race resembling gods. Oh now the tribe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of gentle women sing! Olympian maids!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ye Muses, born from ægis-bearer Jove!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h3>FOOTNOTES</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="label">[142]</a> <i>They lightly leap in dance.</i>] This representation of the Muses -is taken from the ancient custom of dancing round the altar -during sacrifice.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="label">[143]</a> <i>In springs that gush’d fresh from the courser’s hoof.</i>] Hippos -was an Ægyptian title of the sun. This ancient term became -obsolete, and was misapplied by the Greeks, who uniformly applied -it to horses. Hippocrene was a sacred fountain denominated -from the god of light, who was the patron of verse and -science. But by the Greeks it was referred to an animal, and -supposed to have been produced by the hoof of a horse. Other -nations, says Athanasius, reverenced rivers and fountains: but -above all people in the world the Ægyptians held them in the -highest honour, and esteemed them as divine. From hence the -custom passed westward to Greece, Italy, and the extremities of -Europe. One reason for holding waters so sacred arose from a -notion that they were gifted with supernatural powers. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="label">[144]</a> <i>Sire of prophecy.</i>] Phœbus is thought to be derived from Φαος -βιου, light of life: but the Greeks always associated with the -name the <i>prophetic</i> attribute of Apollo: hence they formed from -it the word φοιβαζω, to <i>prophecy</i>: as βακχευν, to celebrate orgies -or madden, is formed from βακχος: like the <i>debacchor</i> of the -Latins. Lycophron, v. 6:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Δαφιηφαγων φοιβαζεν εκ λαιμων οπα.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">From foaming mouth with laurel fed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She pour’d the voice of prophecy.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="label">[145]</a> <i>And Venus twinkling bland her tremulous lids.</i>] Ελικοβλεφαρος -is explained by Guietus <i>arcuatis superciliis</i>: so Creech, in his -translation of a chapter of Plutarch’s Morals, where the verse is -quoted;</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And Venus beauteous with her bending brows.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But the Greek for an eyebrow is οφρυς. Robinson more properly -interprets it <i>orbiculatis palpebris</i>, with semicircular eye-lids: -after the old scholiast; who conceives it a metaphor drawn from -ελιξ: the bending tendril of ivy or the vine. Le Clerc explains it -<i>volubilibus palpebris</i>: and is supported by Grævius, who quotes -Petronius in illustration of the peculiar propriety of the epithet -as applied to Venus:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Blandos oculos et inquietos,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Et quadam propriâ notâ loquaces.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Soft and ever restless eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still talkative, with language all their own.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Ελισσω is <i>circumvolvo</i>, to roll about.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="label">[146]</a> <i>Ye fleshly appetites.</i>] This degrading address seems to betray -a modern hand. If the proem be genuine, the shepherd’s occupation -must have degenerated in the time of Hesiod from its -ancient honourable character. But it is not likely that an agricultural -poet should speak of husbandmen in these debasing -terms. Le Clerc’s apology, that revilings such as these belong to -the manners of primeval simplicity, does not appear very satisfactory. -The poet, whoever he was, meant the address, probably, -as an exhortation to higher pursuits.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="label">[147]</a> <i>A laurel-bough.</i>] Salmasius observes that they who aspired to -skill in divination, chewed the leaf of the laurel. Its poisonous -quality produced a preternatural action on the nerves, and a convulsion -and frothing at the mouth, favourable to the idea of being -possessed or inspired. As poets feigned a kind of divination, -and a knowledge of supernatural things, the laurel was equally -a symbol of poesy and prophecy: and held sacred to Phœbus, -the god of verse and divination. We find from Pausanias that -those poets who did not play on the lyre held a laurel-bough in -their hand, during their public recitations, as the badge of their -profession. Hence probably the term “rhapsodist:” επι ραβδω -αδειν, “<i>to sing to the branch</i>.” and a rhapsody seems to have -designated such a portion of verses as the bard would recite at -one time. Salmasius seems therefore mistaken in deriving the -word from ραπτειν τας ωδας, <i>stitching together songs</i>: in allusion to -the centos which the Homeric rhapsodists were accustomed to -recite from the works of Homer: although the derivation appears -countenanced by Pindar’s expression of ραπτων επεων αοιδοι, <i>singers -of tissued verses</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="label">[148]</a> <i>This tale of oaks.</i>] This seems to have been a proverbial expression -to signify any idle tale or preamble. The Scholiasts -illustrate it from Odyssey xvii. 163, where Penelope asks Ulysses, -whom she does not yet recognise, “whence he is?” and observes,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou comest not from some ancient oak or rock:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">in allusion to the fable of men born from trees: originating, -possibly, in children being found exposed in hollow trees and -cavities of rocks. But there is another passage in Homer more -to the purpose, Il. xx. 126:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">It is no time from oak or hollow rock</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With him to parley, as a nymph and swain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A nymph and swain soft parley mutual hold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Mr. Bryant explains this passage in Homer by the traditionary -reverence paid to caverns: which in the first ages were deemed -oracular temples: whence persons entered into compacts under -rocks and oaks as places of security. But surely there is no -need to go back to the first ages, or to dive into traditional superstitions -for the solution of a circumstance so extremely obvious, -as that of two lovers conversing in the shade. Harmer in -his “Illustrations of the Classics,” vol. iii. of his “Observations -on Scripture,” renders απο δρυος, <i>on account of</i> an oak: instead -of <i>from an oak</i>: “when people meet each other on account of -some rock or some tree which they happen upon in travelling.” -But the alteration is quite unnecessary: the word <i>from</i> perhaps -indicates that one is resting under the tree, while the other is -passing by. The adage in Hesiod is expressed “<i>around</i> an oak:” -which implies a <i>number</i> of persons. The rock associated with -the oak marks the peculiar climate of Greece and the East. -The shade cast by a rock is described by Eastern travellers as -singularly cool.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="label">[149]</a> <i>Pieria’s groves.</i>] The Pierians were celebrated for their skill -in music and poetry. Hence Pieria came to be regarded as the -birth place of the Muses. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="label">[150]</a> <i>Bare the nine maids.</i>] The origin of verse itself, which is to be -sought in the necessity of some mechanical help for the memory -at an æra when letters were not invented, and every thing depended -on oral tradition, obviously accounts for the fiction of -memory being the mother of the Muses. But there is a farther -reason. The ancient temples were the depositaries of all traditionary -knowledge. We are told by Homer that the voice of the -Syrens was enchanting, but their knowledge of the past equally -so. The Syrens appear to have been merely priestesses of one -of this description of temples, which stood in Sicily, and was -erected on the sea-shore, answering also the purpose of a lighthouse. -The rites of the temple consisted partly of hymns -chanted by young and beautiful women to the sound of harps -and flutes: and it was their office to entangle by their allurements -such strangers as touched upon the coast: who were -instantly seized by the priests and sacrificed to the solar god. -The Syrens are described as the daughters of Calliope, Melpomene, -and Terpsichore; three of the Muses: they were in -fact the same with the Muses. These temples were sacred colleges: -sciences were taught there: in particular music and astronomy. -The transition was easy from the young priestesses of -these temples, to blooming goddesses who presided over history, -poetry, &c. See the “Analysis of Ancient Mythology.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="label">[151]</a> <i>Soothing eloquence.</i>] This passage is exactly similar to one in -the Odyssey, b. viii.:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent36">Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Crowns him with eloquence: his hearers charm’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behold him, while with unassuming tone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He bears the prize of fluent speech from all;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when he walks the city, as they pass,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All turn and gaze, as they had pass’d a god.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="label">[152]</a> <i>The great assembly.</i>] The ancient Grecian princes, as Dionysius -of Halicarnassus remarks, were not absolute like the -Asiatic monarchs: their power being limited by laws and -established customs:” and this is perfectly consonant to the -higher authority of Homer. The poet himself appears a warm -friend to monarchical rule, and takes every opportunity zealously -to inculcate loyalty. “The government of many is bad: let there -be one chief, one king.” It is, however, sufficiently evident -that the poet means here to speak of executive government only: -“Let there be one chief, one king,” he says: but he adds, “to -whom Jupiter has intrusted the sceptre and the laws, <i>that by -them he may govern</i>.” Accordingly in every Grecian government -which he has occasion to enlarge upon, he plainly discovers -to us strong principles of republican rule. Not only the council -of principal men, but the assembly of the people also is familiar -to him. The name <i>agora</i> signifying a place of meeting, and the -verb formed from it to express haranguing in assemblies of the -people, were already in common use; and to be a good public -speaker was esteemed among the highest qualifications a man -could possess. In the government of Phæacia, as described in -the Odyssey, the mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy -is not less clearly marked than in the British constitution. -One chief, twelve peers (all honoured, like the chief, with the -title which we translate <i>king</i>), and the assembly of the people, -shared the supreme authority. The universal and undoubted -prerogatives of kings were religious supremacy and military command. -They often also exercised judicial power. But in all -civil concerns their authority appears very limited. Every thing, -indeed, that remains concerning government in the oldest Grecian -poets and historians, tends to demonstrate that the general spirit -of it among the early Greeks was nearly the same as among our -Teutonic ancestors. The ordinary business of the community was -directed by the chiefs. Concerning extraordinary matters and -more essential interests, the multitude claimed a right to be consulted. -<span class="smcap">Mitford</span>, History of Greece, i. 3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="label">[153]</a> <i>Harpers and men of song.</i>] Singer was a common name -among the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and other ancient people, -for poet and musician; employments which were then inseparable: -as no poetry was written but to be sung; and little or no -music composed, but as an accompaniment to poetry. <span class="smcap">Burney</span>, -History of Music, 312.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="label">[154]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent32"><i>Is there one</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Who hides some fresh grief.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This whole passage -is found among the fragments attributed to Homer. This -sentiment of the power of poesy and the subjects chosen by the -bard is entirely in the spirit of antiquity, when mythology and -heroism were the favourite themes. Achilles is described by -Homer as diverting the uneasiness of his mind by warlike odes -which he accompanied on the lyre, Il. ix. 189:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24">Arriving soon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Among the Myrmidons, their chief they found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soothing his sorrows with the silver-framed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Harmonious lyre, spoil taken when he took</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Æetion’s city: with that lyre his cares</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He soothed, and glorious heroes were his theme.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155" class="label">[155]</a> <i>The servant of the Muse.</i>] Laws were always promulgated in -verse, and often publicly sung; a practice which remained in -many places long after letters were become common: morality -was taught: history was delivered in verse. Lawgivers, -philosophers, historians, all who would apply their experience or -their genius to the instruction and amusement of others, were -necessarily poets. The character of poet was therefore a character -of dignity: an opinion even of sacredness became attached -to it: a poetical genius was esteemed an effect of divine -inspiration and a mark of divine favour: and the poet, who -moreover carried with him instruction and entertainment, not to -be obtained without him, was a privileged person, enjoying by a -kind of prescription the rights of universal hospitality. <span class="smcap">Mitford.</span></p> - -<p>Yet in the vulgar tradition, Homer is represented as a mere -ballad-singing mendicant! and whoever attempts to refute, by the -light of historic evidence and of reason, this or similar absurdities -of modern ignorance, when sanctioned by popular prejudice, -must expect to be set down as a dealer in paradoxes.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156" class="label">[156]</a> <i>First of all beings Chaos was.</i>] The ancients were in general -materialists, and thought the world eternal. But the mundane -system, or at least the history of the world, they supposed to -commence from the deluge. The confusion which prevailed at -the deluge is often represented as the chaotic state of nature: for -the earth was hid, and the heavens obscured, and all the elements -in disorder. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157" class="label">[157]</a> <i>Or in the dark abysses of the ground.</i>] Tartarus is considered -by Brucker in his epitome of the Theogony (Historia Critica -Philosophiæ, tom. 1.) as the third birth. Tartarus is, indeed, -after introduced as a person, but in the singular number: the -word is here used in the plural, and I conceive it to mean simply -the cavities of the earth, and to be connected with the preceding -sentence.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158" class="label">[158]</a> <i>The Cyclops brethren.</i>] Thucydides acquaints us concerning -the Cyclopes, that they were the most ancient inhabitants of -Sicily, but that he could not find out their race. Strabo places -them near Ætna and Icontina, and supposes that they once ruled -over that part of the island; and it is certain that a people called -Cyclopians did possess that province. It is generally agreed by -writers upon the subject, that they were of a size superior to the -common race of mankind. Among the many tribes of the Amonians -who went abroad, were to be found people who were styled -Anakim; and were descended from the sons of Anak: so that -this history, though carried to a great excess, was probably -founded in truth. They were particularly famous for architecture; -and in all parts whither they came, they erected noble structures, -which were remarkable for their height and beauty: and were -often dedicated to the chief deity, the sun, under the name of -Elorus and P’Elorus. People were so struck with their grandeur, -that they called every thing great or stupendous Pelorian (πελωρος, -huge): and when they described the Cyclopians as a lofty towering -race, they came at last to borrow their ideas of this people from -the towers to which they alluded. They supposed them in height -to reach the clouds, and in bulk equal to the promontories on -which these edifices were founded. As these buildings were -often-times light-houses, and had in their upper story one round -casement, “like an Argolick buckler or the moon,” by which they -afforded light in the night-season, the Greeks made this a characteristic -of the people. They supposed this aperture to have -been an eye, which was fiery and glaring, and placed in the -middle of their foreheads. What confirmed the mistake was the -representation of an eye, which was often engraved over the -entrance of these temples: the chief deity of Ægypt being -elegantly represented by the symbol of an eye, which was intended -to signify the superintendency of Providence. The notion -of the Cyclopes framing the thunder and lightning for Jupiter, -arose chiefly from the Cyclopians engraving hieroglyphics of this -sort upon the temples of the deity. The poets considered them -merely in the capacity of blacksmiths, and condemned them to -the anvil. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>The proximity of Ætna doubtless had its share in this delusion, -Virg. Æn. viii. 417:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26">Deep below</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In hollow caves the fires of Ætna glow.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Cyclops here their heavy hammers deal:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Loud strokes and hissings of tormented steel</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are heard around: the boiling waters roar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And smoky flames through fuming tunnels soar.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hither the father of the fire by night,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through the brown air precipitates his flight:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On their eternal anvils here he found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The brethren beating, and the blows go round.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159" class="label">[159]</a> <i>He took the sickle.</i>] In a fragment of Sanchoniatho, the Phœnician -philosopher, translated by Philo the Jew, is recorded this -very history of Uranus and Cronus, or Saturn. De Gebelin, in his -“Monde Primitif,” resolves it, according to his system, into the -invention of reaping, which he supposes Saturn to personify. -But Saturn is often represented with a ship, as well as a sickle; -which has no reference to agriculture. The explanation may, -however, be correct, if we consider Saturn not as a mere figurative -prosopopœia of reaping, but as the real person who restored -the labours of harvest; in the same manner as his Greek name -Cronus, which some have thought to intimate a personification -of Time, points out very significantly the person who began the -new æra of time: the great father of the post-diluvian world. -The type of the ship on the ancient coins of Saturn is an apposite -emblem of the ark: and the concealment of the children of -Heaven in a cavern seems an obscure remnant of the same tradition.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160" class="label">[160]</a> <i>The foam-born goddess.</i>] The name of the Dove among the -ancient Amonians was Iön and Iönah. This term is often found -compounded, and expressed Ad-Iönah, queen dove: from which -title another deity, Adiona, was constituted. This mode of -idolatry must have been very ancient, as it is mentioned in Leviticus -and Deuteronomy, and is one species of false worship, -which Moses forbade by name. According to our method of -rendering the Hebrew term it is called Idione. This Idione or -Adione was the Dione of the Greeks: the deity who was sometimes -looked upon as the mother of Venus: at other times as -Venus herself: and styled Venus Dionæa. Venus was no other -than the ancient Iönah: and we shall find in her history numberless -circumstances relating to the Noachic dove, and to the -deluge. We are told, when the waters covered the earth, that -the dove came back to Noah, having roamed over a vast uninterrupted -ocean, and found no rest for the sole of her foot. But -upon being sent forth a second time by the patriarch, in order to -form a judgment of the state of the earth, she returned to the -ark in the evening, and “Lo! in her mouth was an olive leaf -plucked off.” From hence Noah conceived his first hopes of the -waters being assuaged, and the elements reduced to order. He -likewise began to foresee the change that was to happen in the -earth: that seed-time and harvest would be renewed, and the ground -restored to its pristine fecundity. In the hieroglyphical sculptures -and paintings where this history was represented, the dove was -depicted hovering over the face of the deep. Hence it is that -Dione, or Venus, is said to have risen from the sea. Hence it -is, also, that she is said to preside over waters, to appease the -troubled ocean, and to cause by her presence a universal calm: -that to her were owing the fruits of the earth, and the flowers of -the field were renewed by her influence. The address of Lucretius -to this goddess is founded on traditions, which manifestly allude -to the history above mentioned. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161" class="label">[161]</a> <i>Love track’d her steps.</i>] What the Greeks called Iris, was -expressed Eiras by the Ægyptians. The Greeks out of Eiras -formed Eros, a god of love, whom they annexed to Venus, and -made her son: and finding that the bow was his symbol, instead -of the iris they gave him a material bow, with the addition of a -quiver and arrows. The bows of Apollo and Diana were formed -from the same original. After the descent from the ark the first -wonderful occurrence was the bow in the clouds, and the covenant -of which it was made an emblem. At this season another -æra began. The earth was supposed to be renewed, and Time -to return to a second infancy. They therefore formed an emblem -of a child with the rainbow, to denote this renovation in the world, -and called him Eros, or Divine Love. But however like a child -he might be expressed, the more early mythologists esteemed him -the most ancient of the gods; and Lucian, with great humour, -makes Jupiter very much puzzled to account for the appearance -of this infant deity. “Why thou urchin,” says the father of the -gods, “how came you with that little childish face, when I know -you to be as old as Iapetus?” The Greek and Roman poets reduced -the character of this deity to that of a wanton, mischievous -pigmy: but he was otherwise esteemed of old. He is styled by -Plato a mighty god; and it is said that Eros was the cause of the -greatest blessings to mankind. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162" class="label">[162]</a> <i>Virgin whisperings.</i>] These attributes of Venus suggest a comparison -with the properties of her cestus as described by Homer:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">It was an ambush of sweet snares: replete</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With love, desire, soft intercourse of hearts,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And music of resistless whisper’d sounds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which from the wisest steal their best resolves.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163" class="label">[163]</a> <i>Then bare she Momus.</i>] Hesiod has truly painted the -nature of detraction (Momus) in describing it as born from -Night. The same origin is given to Care: because all anxieties -are increased in the night-season: whence Night is styled by -Ovid, “the mighty nurse of Cares.” <span class="smcap">Le Clerc.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164" class="label">[164]</a> <i>Th’ Hesperian maids.</i>] The ancient temples in which the sun -was adored often stood within enclosures of large extent. Some -of them were beautifully planted, and ornamented with pavilions -and fountains. Places of this nature are alluded to under the -description of the gardens of the Hesperides and Alcinous. -They were also regal edifices: and termed Tor-chom and Tar-chon; -which signified a regal tower, and was of old a high -place or temple of Cham. By a corruption it was in later times -rendered Trachon. The term was still further sophisticated by -the Greeks, and expressed Drachon. The situation of these -buildings on a high eminence, and the reverence in which they -were held, made them be looked upon as places of great security. -On these accounts they were the repositories of much treasure. -When the Greeks understood that in these temples the people -worshipped a serpent-deity, they concluded that Trachon was -a serpent: hence the name Draco came to be appropriated to -that imaginary animal. Hence also arose the notion of treasures -being guarded by dragons, and of the gardens of the Hesperides -being under the protection of a serpent. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>Perhaps also in these gardens was kept up the ancient Paradisiacal -tradition: as the golden apples and the dragon present -an analogy with the hieroglyphic account given by Moses of the -forbidden fruit and the serpent. This is the more probable, as -it is evident this tradition had mixed itself in the dispersed -legends of pagan mythology from the remarkable coincidence of -the “serpent-woman,” considered by the Mexicans as the mother -of the human race, and ranked next to “the god of the celestial -paradise.” The Mexican temples, also, where “the great -spirit,” or sun personified, was worshipped, are described by -Humboldt in his “American Researches,” as raised in the -midst of a square and walled enclosure, which contained gardens -and fountains. This mixed worship of the Paradisiacal serpent -may account for a serpent, twisted into the form of a fillet, -being made an emblem of the sun’s disk: and for snaky hair -being typical of divine wisdom: while the tresses were, at the -same time, so disposed as to figure the sun’s rays, and the human -visage represented his orb.</p> - -<p>The Hesperian virgins seem the same with the Muses and -Syrens, the priestesses of the temple: and their singing sweetly -on their watch, as described afterwards by Hesiod, alludes to -the hymns which they chanted at the altar. They are made the -daughters of Night, because the gardens were in Afric: which, -equally with Italy and Spain, was denominated <i>Hesperia</i> by the -Greeks: and the region of the west was considered as synonymous -with Night.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165" class="label">[165]</a> <i>Eldest of all his race.</i>] The history of the patriarch was recorded -by the ancients through their whole theology. All the -principal deities of the sea, however diversified, have a manifest -relation to him. Noah was figured under the history of Nereus: -and his character of an unerring prophet, as well as of a just, -righteous, and benevolent man, is plainly described by Hesiod. -<span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166" class="label">[166]</a> <i>Then rose Thaumas vast.</i>] That beautiful phenomenon in the -heavens, which we call the rainbow, was by the Ægyptians -styled Thamuz, and signified “the wonder.” The Greeks expressed -it Thaumas: and hence was derived θαυμαζω, to wonder. -This Thaumas they did not immediately appropriate to the bow: -but supposed them to be two personages, and Thaumas the -parent. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_167" href="#FNanchor_167" class="label">[167]</a> <i>Phorcys the mighty.</i>] Homer calls him “the old man of the -sea:” and gives precisely the same appellation to Proteus. The -character of the latter varies only from that of Nereus in the -quality of transforming himself into sundry shapes. This may -have a reference to the great diluvian changes, varying the face -of nature. The connexion of Phorcys and Ceto favours the -supposition that these three deities are one and the same personage.</p> - -<p>“The ark in which mankind were preserved was figured under -the semblance of a large fish. It was called Cetos.” <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p><i>Cetos</i> is the Greek term for a whale.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_168" href="#FNanchor_168" class="label">[168]</a> <i>Rose-arm’d Eunice.</i>] ροδοπῃχυς, <i>rosy-elbow’d</i>: this epithet, together -with that of ροδοδακτυλος, <i>rosy-fingered</i>, was derived from -the artificial custom of staining the elbow and tops of the fingers -with rose-colour. In Dallaway’s Constantinople it is remarked -of the modern Greek girls “that the nails both of the fingers and -the feet are always stained of a rose-colour:” a curious vestige -of Grecian antiquity.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_169" href="#FNanchor_169" class="label">[169]</a> <i>Nereid nymphs.</i>] Spenser, in his “Spousals of the Thames -and Medway,” b. 4. cant. ii. of the “Faery Queen,” has imposed -on himself a task, from which a translator would fain -escape: and has transposed into his stanzas the whole fifty -Nereids of Hesiod, together with his catalogue of Rivers.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_170" href="#FNanchor_170" class="label">[170]</a> <i>The sister-harpies.</i>] The harpies were priests of the sun: -they were denominated from their seat of residence, which was -an oracular temple called Harpi. The representation of them as -winged animals was only the insigne of the people, as the eagle -and vulture were of the Ægyptians. They seem to have been -a set of rapacious persons, who for their repeated acts of -violence and cruelty were driven out of Bithynia, their country. -<span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_171" href="#FNanchor_171" class="label">[171]</a> <i>The Graiæ; from their birth-hour gray.</i>] The circumstance -of their being gray seems to be explained by a passage of Æschylus, -who describes them as half-women, half-swans:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent22">The Gorgonian plains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Cisthine, where dwell the Phorcydes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swan-form’d, three ancient nymphs, one common eye</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their portion.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Prometheus Chained.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“This history relates to an Amonian temple founded in the -extreme parts of Africa, in which there were three priestesses of -Canaänitish race, who on that account are said to be in the -shape of swans: the swan being the insigne under which their -country was denoted. The notion of their having but one eye -among them took its rise from a hieroglyphic very common in -Ægypt and Canaän: this was the representation of an eye, -which was engraved on the pediment of their temples.” <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>The Gorgons were probably similar personages: they are described -by Æschylus with wings and serpentine locks: attributes -apparently borrowed from the emblematical devices in the -temples of Ægypt. Gorgon was a title of Minerva at Cyrene in -Lybia.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_172" href="#FNanchor_172" class="label">[172]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24"><i>When Perseus smote</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Her neck.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The island of -Seriphus is represented as having once abounded with serpents; -and it is styled by Virgil in his Ciris <i>serpentifera</i>: it had this -epithet, not on account of any real serpents, but according to -the Greeks, from Medusa’s head, which was brought thither by -Perseus. By this is meant the serpent-deity, whose worship was -here introduced by a people called Peresians. It was usual with -the Ægyptians to describe upon the architrave of their temples -some emblem of the deity who there presided: among others the -serpent was esteemed a most salutary emblem, and they made -use of it to signify superior skill and knowledge. A beautiful -female countenance surrounded with an assemblage of serpents -was made to denote divine wisdom. Many ancient temples were -ornamented with this curious hieroglyphic. These devices upon -temples were often esteemed as talismans, and supposed to have -a hidden influence by which the building was preserved. In the -temple of Minerva, at Tigea, was some sculpture of Medusa, -which the goddess was said to have given to preserve the city -from ever being taken in war. It was probably from this opinion -that the Athenians had the head of Medusa represented on the -walls of their Acropolis; and it was the insigne of many cities, -as we find from ancient coins. Perseus was one of the most -ancient heroes in the mythology of Greece: the merit of whose -supposed achievements the Helladians took to themselves, and -gave out that he was a native of Argos. Herodotus more truly -represents him as an Assyrian; by which is meant a Babylonian. -Yet he resided in Ægypt, and is said to have reigned at Memphis. -To say the truth, he was <i>worshipped</i> at that place: for Perseus -was a title of the deity, and was no other than the Sun, the -chief god of the gentile world. His true name was Perez; -rendered Peresis, Perses, and Perseus: and in the account given -of this personage we have the history of the Peresians in their -several peregrinations; who were no other than the Heliadæ and -Osirians. It is a mixed history in which their forefathers are -alluded to: particularly their great progenitor, the father of -mankind. He was supposed to have had a renewal of life: -they therefore described Perseus as enclosed in an ark and exposed -in a state of childhood on the waters, after having been -conceived in a shower of gold. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_173" href="#FNanchor_173" class="label">[173]</a> <i>The great Chrysaor.</i>] Chus by the Ægyptians and Canaanites -was styled Or-chus, and Chus-or: the latter of which was expressed -by the Greeks by a word more familiar to their ear -Chrusor; as if it had a reference to gold. This name was sometimes -changed into Chrusaor: and occurs in many places where -the Cuthites were known to have settled. They were a long time -in Ægypt: and we read of a Chrusaor in those parts, who is said -to have sprung from the blood of Medusa. We meet with the -same Chrusaor in the regions of Asia Minor, especially among the -Carians: in those parts he was particularly worshipped, and -said to have been the first deified mortal. The Grecians borrowed -this term, and applied it to Apollo: and from this epithet, Chrusaor, -he was denominated the god of the golden sword. This -weapon was at no time ascribed to him, nor is he ever represented -with one either on a gem or marble. He is described by Homer -in the hymn to Apollo, as wishing for a harp and a bow. There -is never any mention made of a sword, nor was the term Chrusaor -of Grecian etymology. Since, then, we may be assured -that Chus was the person alluded to, we need not wonder that -so many cities, where Apollo was particularly worshipped, should -be called Chruse, and Chrusopolis. Nor is this observable in -cities only, but in rivers. It was usual in the first ages to consecrate -rivers to deities, and to call them after their names. -Hence many were denominated from Chrusorus: which by the -Greeks was changed to χρυσορροας, <i>flowing with gold</i>: and from -this mistake, the Nile was called <i>Chrusorrhoas</i>, which had no -pretensions to gold. In all the places where the sons of Chus -spread themselves, the Greeks introduced some legend about gold. -Hence we read of a <i>golden</i> fleece at Colchis: <i>golden</i> apples at -the Hesperides: at Tartessus a <i>golden</i> cup: and at Cuma in -Campania a <i>golden</i> branch. But although this repeated mistake -arose in great measure from the term Chusus being easily convertible -into Chrusus, there was another obvious reason for the -change. Chus was by many of the Eastern nations expressed -Cuth; and his posterity, the Cuthim. This term, in the ancient -Chaldaic and other Amonian languages, signified <i>gold</i>: and -hence many cities and countries where the Cuthites settled were -described as golden. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_174" href="#FNanchor_174" class="label">[174]</a> <i>And Pegasus the steed.</i>] Pegasus received its name from a -well-known emblem, the horse of Poseidon: by which we are -to understand an ark or ship. “By horses,” says Artemidorus, -“the poets mean ships:” and hence it is that Poseidon is called -Hippius; for there is a strict analogy between the poetical or -winged horse on land, and a real ship in the sea. Hence it came -that Pegasus was esteemed the horse of Poseidon (Neptune), and -often named <i>scuphius</i>; a name which relates to a ship, and shows -the purport of the emblem. The ark, we know, was preserved -by divine providence from the sea, which would have overwhelmed -it: and as it was often represented under this symbol -of a horse, it gave rise to the fable of the two chief deities, -Jupiter and Neptune, disputing about horses. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>To this we may add the still more remarkable fable of the dispute -between Neptune and Pallas: when the former produces a -horse, and the latter an olive-tree. “These notions,” observes the -author of the Analysis, “arose from emblematical descriptions of -the deluge, which the Grecians had received by tradition: but -what was general they limited, and appropriated to particular -places.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_175" href="#FNanchor_175" class="label">[175]</a> <i>Old Nilus’ fountains.</i>] Ωκεανου περι πηγας. Le Clerc remarks -that “this derivation is absurd: as we do not talk of the fountains -of the sea, but of rivers.” He adds, however, that “Hesiod -more than once calls the ocean the river:” and this should have -led him to perceive that it is in fact a river of which Hesiod -speaks. The oceanic river was the Nile, which in very ancient -times was called the Oceanus.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_176" href="#FNanchor_176" class="label">[176]</a> <i>Geryon rose.</i>] One of the principal and most ancient settlements -of the Amonians upon the ocean was at Gades; -where a prince was supposed to have reigned, named Geryon. -The harbour at Gades was a very fine one, and had several tor, -or towers, to direct shipping: and as it was usual to imagine the -deity to whom the temple was erected to have been the builder, -this temple was said to have been built by Hercules. All this -the Grecians took to themselves. They attributed the whole to -Hercules of Thebes: and as he was supposed to conquer wherever -he came, they made him subdue Geryon: and changing the -tor or towers into so many head of cattle, they describe him as -leading them off in triumph. Tor-keren signified a regal tower; -and this being interpreted τρικαρηνος, this personage was in consequence -described with three heads. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>Erythia, according to Pliny, is another name for Gades.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_177" href="#FNanchor_177" class="label">[177]</a> <i>In the deep-hollow’d cavern of a rock.</i>] It is probable that at -Arima in Cilicia there was an Ophite temple; which, like all the -most ancient temples, was a vast cavern. Some emblematical -sculpture of the serpent-deity may have given rise to the creation -of this mythological prodigy. The Hydra had, probably, a similar -origin.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_178" href="#FNanchor_178" class="label">[178]</a> <i>A whirlwind, rude and wild.</i>] There were two distinct Typhons -or Typhaons, although they are sometimes confounded together. -The one is the same as the gigantic Typhæus, subsequently described -by Hesiod: the other the whirlwind here mentioned.</p> - -<p>“By this Typhon was signified a mighty whirlwind, or inundation. -It had a relation to the deluge. In hieroglyphical descriptions, -the dove was represented as hovering over the mundane -egg which was exposed to the fury of Typhon: for an egg, -containing in it the proper elements of life, was thought no improper -emblem of the ark, in which were preserved the rudiments -of the future world.” <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>Robinson is therefore manifestly wrong in proposing to substitute -ανομον, <i>lawless</i>, for ανεμον, <i>a wind</i>: though the reading be -countenanced by the Bodleian copy and the Florentine edition of -Junta.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_179" href="#FNanchor_179" class="label">[179]</a> <i>The fifty-headed Cerberus.</i>] Cerberus was the name of a -place, though esteemed the dog of hell. We are told by -Eusebius from Plutarch, that Cerberus was the Sun: but the -term properly signified the temple, or place, of the Sun. The -great luminary was styled by the Amonians both Or and Abor; -that is, light, and the parent of light: and Cerberus is properly -Kir-abor, the place of that deity. The same temple had different -names from the diversity of the god’s titles, who was there -worshipped. It was called Tor-caph-el; which was changed to -τρικεφαλος: and Cerberus was from hence supposed to have had -three heads. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>The poets increased the number of heads, as they seem to -have thought a multitude of heads or arras sublimely terrific. -Pindar out-does Hesiod by a whole fifty, and speaks of the -<i>hundred-headed</i> Cerberus. Εκατον τα κεφαλον.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_180" href="#FNanchor_180" class="label">[180]</a> <i>Chimæra, breathing fire unquenchable.</i>] The same passage -occurs in the 6th book of the Iliad. “In Lycia was the city -Phaselis, situated upon the mountain Chimæra; which mountain -was sacred to the god of fire. Phaselis is a compound of Phi, -which in the Amonian language is a mouth or opening, and of -Az-el: another name for Orus, the god of light. Phaselis signifies -a chasm of fire. The reason why this name was imposed -may be seen in the history of the place. All the country around -abounded in fiery eruptions. Chimæra is a compound of Chamur, -the name of the deity, whose altar stood towards the top of -the mountain. But the most satisfactory idea of it may be obtained -from coins which were struck in its vicinity, and particularly -describe it as a hollow and inflamed mountain.” <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_181" href="#FNanchor_181" class="label">[181]</a> <i>Depopulating Sphinx.</i>] The Nile begins to rise during the -fall of the Abyssinian rains; when the sun is vertical over -Æthiopia: and its waters are at their height of inundation -when the sun is in the signs Leo and Virgo. The Ægyptians -seem to have invented a colossal representation of the two -zodiacal signs, which served as a water-mark to point out the -risings of the Nile: and this biform emblem of a virgin and -lion constituted the famous ænigma.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_182" href="#FNanchor_182" class="label">[182]</a> <i>Tethys to Ocean brought the rivers forth.</i>] When towers were -situated upon eminences fashioned very round, they were by the -Amonians called Tith, answering to Titthos in Greek. They -were so denominated from their resemblance to a woman’s breast, -and were particularly sacred to Orus and Osiris, the deities of -light, who by the Grecians were represented under the title of -Apollo. Tethys, the ancient goddess of the sea, was nothing -else but an old tower upon a mount. On this account it was -called Tith-is, the mount of fire. Thetis seems to have been a -transposition of the same name, and was probably a Pharos, or -fire-tower, near the sea. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_183" href="#FNanchor_183" class="label">[183]</a> <i>Claim the shorn locks.</i>] It was the custom of the Greeks for -adult youths to poll their hair as an offering to Apollo and the -Rivers.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_184" href="#FNanchor_184" class="label">[184]</a> <i>And Ploto, with the bright dilated eyes.</i>] Βοωπις, ox-eyed: -that is, with eyes artificially enlarged. Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxiii. -6, speaks of the <i>stibium</i> or antimony as an astringent, especially -as to the eye-lid: and mentions that it was called <i>platyophthalmum</i>, -eye-opener: from its forming an ingredient in the washes of -women, as it had the effect of opening or dilating the eye by -contracting the lid. The modern Greek women retain the custom. -“Of the few that I have seen with an open veil or without -one, the faces were remarkable for symmetry and brilliant complexion: -with the nose straight and small: the eyes vivacious: -either black or dark-blue: having the eyebrows, partly from -nature, and as much from art, very full, and joining over the -nose. They have a custom, too, of drawing a black line with -a mixture of powder of antimony and oil above and under the -eye-lashes in order to give the eye more fire.” -<span class="smcap">Dallaway</span>, Constantinople Ancient and Modern.</p> - -<p>Strutt, in the general introduction to his “View of the Dress -and Habits of the People of England,” observes that the Moorish -ladies in Barbary, the women in Arabia Felix, and those about -Aleppo continue the same traditional custom of tinging the inside -of the eye-lid. Dr. Russel describes the operation as effected -“by means of a short smooth probe of ivory, wood, or silver; -charged with a powder named the black Kohol. This substance -is a kind of lead-ore brought from Persia: and is prepared by -roasting it in a quince, an apple, or a truffle; then, adding a few -drops of oil of almonds, it is ground to a subtile powder on a -marble. The probe being first dipped in water, a little of the -powder is sprinkled on it. The middle part is then applied horizontally -to the eye, and the eye-lids being shut upon it, the -probe is drawn through between them, leaving the inside tinged, -and a black rim all round the edge. The Kohol is used likewise -by the men: but not so generally by way of ornament merely: -the practice being deemed rather effeminate. It is supposed to -strengthen the sight and prevent various disorders of the eye.” -<span class="smcap">Natural History of Aleppo</span>, vol. i. iii. 22.</p> - -<p>Mr. Gifford, in the notes to his admirable version of Juvenal, -supposes the effeminate practice of the Roman fops to assimilate -with this: in the passage which he translates,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Some with a tiring-pin their eye-brows dye,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till the full arch gives lustre to the eye.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Sat.</span> ii. 67.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Juvenal, however, mentions only the painting of the eye-brows: -unless by the epithet <i>tremulous</i>, <i>trementes</i>, which he -applies to the eyes, he means to intimate the whole operation, -and the eye-ball quivering under the application of the needle.</p> - -<p>In the second book of Kings, ix. 30, when it is said “Jezebel -painted her face,” the Septuagint has it, “she antimonized her -eyes:” Εστιμμιζατο τους οφθαλμους αυτης.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_185" href="#FNanchor_185" class="label">[185]</a> <i>Long-stepping tread the earth.</i>] The Greeks, as appears from -their female epithets, were very attentive to the form of the -ankle, and the manner of walking: and a long step, no less -than a well-turned ankle, as implying a tallness of figure, was -thought characteristic of graceful beauty.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_186" href="#FNanchor_186" class="label">[186]</a> <i>The glassy depth of lakes.</i>] All fountains were esteemed -sacred: but especially those which had any preternatural quality -and abounded with exhalations. It was an universal notion -that a divine energy proceeded from the effluvia; and that the -persons who resided in their vicinity were gifted with a prophetic -quality. Fountains of this nature, from the divine influence -with which they were supposed to abound, the Amonians styled -Ain-omphe, or oracular fountain. These terms the Greeks contracted -to <i>numphe</i>, a nymph: and supposed such a person to be -an inferior goddess who presided over waters. Hot springs were -imagined to be more immediately under the inspection of the -nymphs. Another name for these places was Ain-Ades, the -fountain of Ades or the Sun; which in like manner was changed -to Naïades, a species of deities of the same class. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_187" href="#FNanchor_187" class="label">[187]</a> <i>East, West, and South, and North.</i>] Le Clerc and the generality -of editors suppose Hesiod to omit the east-wind entirely: -and consider αργεστεω as an epithet, signifying <i>swift</i> or <i>serene</i>: -as the term is so used by Homer. Grævius quotes a subsequent -line of the Theogony as authority for αργεστης being so used by -Hesiod also: but there is evidence for αργεστης being the name of -a wind; though Aulus Gellius and Pliny suppose it to be a west-wind, -called by the Latins Caurus. Aristotle also, as is observed -by the Monthly Reviewer, describes the αργεστης as a -westerly wind, which blows from that part of the heaven in -which the sun sets at the summer solstice: and adds that by -some it is called Olympias, by others Iapyx. We see however -from this very passage of Aristotle, that the names of winds -were capricious and arbitrary: and in fact almost every district -in Greece called the winds by names different from those which -the neighbouring district used. The same critic observes that in -a note to the word σκειροιν (Caurus), in Alberti’s edition of Hesychius, -an opinion is intimated that αργεστης is properly an -easterly wind, απηλιωτης ανεμος: nor can there be the least doubt -of the matter, in so far as regards Hesiod. The London Reviewer, -indeed, remarks that “the omission of the wind would -be no proof of Hesiod’s ignorance of its existence”: a similar -omission occurs in the Psalms. “Promotion cometh neither -from the east, nor the west, nor yet from the south.” But it is -forgotten that Hesiod is describing the genealogy of the winds: -and it is very inconceivable that one of the four cardinal winds -should have escaped his notice. The editions of Stephens and -Trincavellus read</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Νοσφι Νοτου, Βορεω τε, και Αργεστου, Ζεφυρου τε:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">instead of αργεστεω Ζεφιροιο: and I have no doubt that this is the -true reading.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_188" href="#FNanchor_188" class="label">[188]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent28"><i>Not apart from Jove</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Their mansion is.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>So Callimachus, Hymn to Jupiter:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">No lots have made thee king above all gods:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But works of thy own hands: thy Strength and Force,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom thou hast, therefore, station’d next thy throne.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Strength and Force are introduced by Æschylus as characters, -in the first scene of his “Prometheus Chained.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_189" href="#FNanchor_189" class="label">[189]</a> <i>Asteria, blest in fame.</i>] According to Callimachus Asteria was -metamorphosed into the Isle of Delos: a term which alludes to -its appearing after having been submerged in the sea: δηλος, -<i>visible</i>. Asteria is from αστηρ a star.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20">Asteria was thy name</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of old: since like a star from heaven on high</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou didst leap down precipitate within</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A fathomless abyss of waters, flying</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From nuptial violence of Jove.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Hymn to Delos.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_190" href="#FNanchor_190" class="label">[190]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26"><i>She conceived</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>With Hecaté.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Εκατη was a -title of Diana, as εκατος of Apollo: from εκας <i>far off</i>: alluding -to the distance to which the sun and moon dart their rays. This -goddess is represented in ancient sculptures as three females -joined in one, with various attributes in their hands: this triple -figure was combined of the three characters sustained by the -moon: who was Selene or Luna in heaven, Diana on earth, -and Proserpine in the subterranean regions. Luna is said by -Cicero to be the same as Lucina, the goddess of child-bearing: -a title given also to Diana and Juno. Hecate has also assigned -to her by Hesiod the office of foster-mother of children. This -may be explained partly by the reckoning of pregnant women -being guided by the number of lunar periods; and partly by the -emblematic character of the moon, as an object of worship.</p> - -<p>“The moon was a type of the ark: the sacred ship of Osiris -being represented in the form of a crescent, of which the moon -was made an emblem. Selene was the reputed mother of the -world, as Plutarch confesses: which character cannot be made -in any degree to correspond with the planet. Selene was the -same as Isis: the same also as Rhea, Vesta, Cubele, and Damater, -or Ceres.” <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>These female deities not only melt into each other, but at last -resolve themselves into the one Zeus: so that the lunar idolatry -is absorbed ultimately in the solar. “The patriarch had the -names of Meen or Menes; which signify a moon, and was -worshipped all over the east as Deus Lunus. Strabo mentions -several temples of this lunar god in different places: all these -were dedicated to the same Arkite deity, called Lunus, Luna, -and Selene. The same deity was both masculine and feminine: -what was Deus Lunus in one country was Dea Luna in another. -Meen was also one of the most ancient titles of the Ægyptian -Osiris; the same as Apollo.” <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>The sacred bull Apis is figured in the ancient coins and sculptures, -with a crescent moon upon his head instead of horns: by -which the great restorer of husbandry, Noah, was connected -with the ark in which he had been miraculously preserved; and -of which the lunar crescent was an emblem.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_191" href="#FNanchor_191" class="label">[191]</a> <i>Her wide allotment stands.</i>] The other gods were either celestial, -terrestrial, marine, or subterranean: but the divinity of -Hecate pervaded heaven, earth, and the abyss, from her being -intermixed with Luna, Dian, and Proserpine: and the sea, -from the moon influencing the tides. She was invoked at sacrifices, -probably, as presiding over divination from the entrails -of beasts: because she was the patroness of magical rites and -incantations: from such ceremonies being performed in the secrecy -of night by the light of the moon. The Greeks, on every -new moon, were accustomed to spread a feast in the cross-ways, -which was carried away by the poor: this was called “Hecate’s -supper;” and was said to have been eaten by Hecaté. See -Aristophanes, Plutus.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_192" href="#FNanchor_192" class="label">[192]</a> <i>Her solitary birth.</i>] This alludes to the honour and the privileges -attached by the ancients to numerous children. The -moon is said to be single in birth, as the only planet of the same -apparent size and lustre.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_193" href="#FNanchor_193" class="label">[193]</a> <i>A gleam of glory o’er his parents’ days.</i>] The odes of Pindar -are traditional records of the glory attached by the Greeks to the -conquerors in their games: a glory which extended to their -parents and connexions, and even to the city in which they were -born. Cicero describes the return from an Olympic victory as -equivalent to a Roman triumph. The victor in fact rode in a -triumphal chariot, and entered through a breach in the walls -into the city: which Plutarch explains to signify that walls are -useless with such defenders. The same writer relates, that a -Spartan meeting Diagoras, who had been crowned in the Olympic -games, and had seen his sons and grand-children crowned after -him, exclaimed, “Die Diagoras! for thou canst not be a god.” -A memorial on the gymnastic exercises of the Greeks will be -found in the “Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles -Lettres,” tom. i. 286.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_194" href="#FNanchor_194" class="label">[194]</a> <i>Golden-sandal’d Juno.</i>] Juno was the same as Iöna: and she -was particularly styled Juno of Argus. Argus was one of the -terms by which the ark was distinguished. The Grecians called -her Hera; which was not originally a proper name, but a title: -the same as Ada of the Babylonians; and expressed “the -Lady” or “Queen.” She was the same as Luna or Selene, from -her connexion with the ark; and at Samos she was described -as standing in a lunette, with the lunar emblem on her head. -She was sometimes worshipped under the symbol of an egg: so -that her history had the same reference as that of Venus. She -presided equally over the seas, which she was supposed to calm -or trouble. Isis, Io, and Ino were the same as Juno, and Venus -also was the same deity under a different title. Hence in Laconia -there was an ancient statue of the goddess styled Venus -Junonia. Juno was also called Cupris, and under that title was -worshipped by the Hetrurians. As Juno was the same with Iöna -we need not wonder at the Iris being her concomitant. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_195" href="#FNanchor_195" class="label">[195]</a> <i>Ceres, and Vesta.</i>] Ceres was the deity of fire; hence at -Cnidus she was called Cura: a title of the Sun. The Roman -name Ceres, expressed by Hesychius Gerys, was by the Dorians -more properly rendered Garis. It was originally the name of a -city called Charis: for many of the deities were erroneously -called by the names of the places where they were worshipped. -Charis is Char-is, the city of fire: the place where Orus and -Hephaistus were worshipped. It may after this seem extraordinary -that she should ever be esteemed the goddess of corn. -This notion arose from the Greeks not understanding their own -theology. The towers of Ceres were P’urtain or Prutaneia: so -called from the fires which were perpetually there preserved. -The Grecians interpreted this <i>purou tameion</i>: and rendered what -was a temple, a granary of corn. In consequence of this, -though they did not abolish the ancient usage of the place, they -made it a repository of grain; from whence they gave largesses -to the people. In early times the corn there deposited seems to -have been for the priests or divines: but this was only a secondary -use to which these places were adapted. They were properly -sacred towers, where a perpetual fire was preserved. It was -sacred to Hestia, the Vesta of the Romans, which was only -another title for Damater or Ceres: and the sacred hearth had -the same name. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_196" href="#FNanchor_196" class="label">[196]</a> <i>Pluto strong.</i>] “Some,” says Diodorus, “think that Osiris is -Serapis: others that he is Dionusus: others still that he is Pluto: -many take him for Zeus or Jupiter, and not a few for Pan.” -This was an unnecessary embarrassment, for they were all titles -of the same god. Pluto, among the best mythologists, was -esteemed the same as Jupiter; and indeed the same as Proserpine, -Ceres, Hermes, Apollo, and every other deity. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_197" href="#FNanchor_197" class="label">[197]</a> <i>Earth-shaker Neptune.</i>] The patriarch was commemorated -by the name of Poseidon. Under the character of Neptune -Genesius he had a temple in Argolis: hard by was a spot of -ground called <i>the place of descent</i>; similar to the place on -mount Ararat, mentioned by Josephus; and undoubtedly named -from the same ancient history. The tradition of the people of -Argolis was, that it was so called because in this spot Danaus -made his first descent from the ship in which he came over. -In Arcadia was a temple of “Neptune <i>looking-out</i>.” Poseidon god -of the sea was also reputed the chief god, the deity of fire. -This we may infer from his priest; who was styled P’urcon. -P’urcon is the lord of fire or light; and from the name of the -priest we may know the department of the god. He was no -other than the supreme deity, the Sun: from whom all may -be supposed to descend. Hence Neptune in the Orphic verses is, -like Zeus or Jupiter, styled the father of gods and men. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_198" href="#FNanchor_198" class="label">[198]</a> <i>Jupiter th’ all-wise.</i>] In the Orphic fragments both Jove and -Bacchus are identified with the Sun: which is described as the -source of all things. Hammon, the African Jupiter, is mentioned -by Lucan; who specifies his having horns. These were -the lunar crescent of Apis or Osiris, the Arkite god. The patriarch, -his son Ham, and his grandson Chus, are reciprocally -mixed with each other; in the same manner as the ark and the -dove: the moon, the sun, and the typical serpent, are often -mixed and confounded in this hieroglyphical mythology.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_199" href="#FNanchor_199" class="label">[199]</a> <i>To his own son he should bow down his strength.</i>] Although -the Romans made a distinction between Janus and Saturn they -were two titles of one and the same person. The former had the -remarkable characteristic of being the author of time, and the -god of the new year: the latter also was looked upon as the -author of time, and held in his hand a serpent, whose tail was -in his mouth and formed a circle: by which emblem was denoted -the renovation of the year. On their coins they were -equally represented with keys in their hand and a ship near them. -Janus was described with two faces: the one that of an aged -man; the other that of a youthful personage. Saturn as of an -uncommon age with hair white like snow: but they had a notion -that he would return to infancy. He is also said to have destroyed -all things: which however were restored with vast increase. -<span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>The faces of Janus, supposed to look to the time past and -that which is to come, evidently regard the æra before the flood -and that after it: and the aged and youthful visage represent the -old world and the new. The keys may allude to the shutting up -the productions of the earth, and again opening them. The ship -is the ark. The story of Saturn and the infant Jupiter involves -similar allusions. The old god devouring his children significantly -points to the destruction of the human race. Saturn and -Jupiter seem only separate personifications of the double visage -of Janus: and the infant Jupiter personifies the second infancy -of Saturn. The new order of things which took place on the -renovation of nature is typified in the dethronement of the aged -monarch by his youthful son.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_200" href="#FNanchor_200" class="label">[200]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24"><i>To succeeding times</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>A monument.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The stone, -which Saturn was supposed to have swallowed instead of a child, -stood according to Pausanias at Delphi: it was esteemed very -sacred, and used to have libations of wine poured upon it daily: -and upon festivals was otherwise honoured. The purport of the -above history I take to have been this. It was for a long time -the custom to offer children at the altar of Saturn: but in process -of time they removed it, and in its form erected a stone -pillar, before which they made their vows, and offered sacrifices -of another nature. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_201" href="#FNanchor_201" class="label">[201]</a> <i>Props the broad heaven.</i>] “This Atlas,” says Maximus Tyrius, -“is a mountain, with a cavity of a tolerable height, which the -natives esteem both as a temple and a deity: and it is the great -object by which they swear, and to which they pay their devotions.” -The cave in the mountain was certainly named Cöel, -the house of god: equivalent to Cœlus of the Romans: and this -was the heaven which Atlas was supposed to support. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_202" href="#FNanchor_202" class="label">[202]</a> <i>He bound Prometheus.</i>] Prometheus, who renewed the race -of men, was Noos, or Noah. Prometheus raised the first altar to -the gods, constructed the first ship, and transmitted to posterity -many useful inventions. He was supposed to have lived at the -time of the deluge, and to have been guardian of Ægypt at that -season. He was the same as Osiris, the great husbandman, the -planter of the vine, and inventor of the plough. Prometheus is -said to have been exposed on mount Caucasus, near Colchis, -with an eagle placed over him, preying on his heart. These -strange histories are undoubtedly taken from the symbols and -devices which were carved upon the front of the ancient Amonian -temples, and especially those of Ægypt. The eagle and -vulture were the insignia of that country. We are told by Orus -Apollo that a heart over burning coals was an emblem of Ægypt. -The history of Tityus, Prometheus, and many other poetical -personages was certainly taken from hieroglyphics misunderstood -and badly explained. Prometheus was worshipped by the Colchians -as a deity, and had a temple and high place upon mount -Caucasus: and the device upon the portal was Ægyptian, an -eagle over a heart. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_203" href="#FNanchor_203" class="label">[203]</a> <i>Parted a huge ox.</i>] Pliny, book vii. ch. 56, speaks of Prometheus -as the first who slaughtered an ox. This traditionary -circumstance is agreeable to that passage in scriptural history, -where Noah receives the divine permission to kill animals for -food: and Hesiod’s tale of the division of the ox may be only a -disfigured representation of the first sacrifice after the flood. -The affinity of Iäpetus, the father of Prometheus, with Japhet, -is very remarkable. This confusion of personages has been -already noticed as common in the ancient mythology.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_204" href="#FNanchor_204" class="label">[204]</a> <i>Pernicious is the race.</i>] Lord Kaimes, in his sketches of the -History of Man, i. 6. observes that in the more polished age -of Greece women were treated with but little consideration by -their husbands: and female influence was confined to the artful -accomplishments of courtezans. But it was very different at an -earlier æra of society. “Women in the Homeric age,” remarks -Mr. Mitford, “enjoyed more freedom, and communicated more in -business and amusement among men, than in after-ages has been -usual in those eastern countries; far more than at Athens, in the -flourishing times of the commonwealth. Equally, indeed, -Homer’s elegant eulogies and Hesiod’s severe sarcasm prove -women to have been in their days important members of society.”</p> - -<p>Milton has imitated this description of the infelicities supposed -to be produced by woman-kind, in a prophetic complaint, -which comes with beautiful propriety from the lips of Adam: -and which his own domestic unhappiness enabled him to express -with feeling.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_205" href="#FNanchor_205" class="label">[205]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent36"><i>The host</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Of glorious Titans.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The giants, whom -Abydenus makes the builders of Babel, are by other writers represented -as the Titans. They are said to have received their -name from their mother Titæa: by which we are to understand -that they were denominated from their religion and place of -worship. The ancient altars consisted of a conical hill of earth, -in the shape of a woman’s breast. Titæa was one of these. It -is a term compounded of Tit-aia, and signifies literally a breast -of earth. These altars were also called Tit-an, and Tit-anis, -from the great fountain of night, styled An and Anis: hence -many places were called Titanis and Titana where the worship -of the sun prevailed. By these giants and Titans are always -meant the sons of Ham and Chus. That the sons of Chus were -the chief agents both in erecting the tower of Babel, and in -maintaining principles of rebellion, is plain: for it is said of -Nimrod, the son of Chus, that “the beginning of his kingdom -was Babel.” The sons of Chus would not submit to the divine -dispensation in the original disposition of the several families: -and Nimrod, who first took upon him regal state, drove Ashur -from his demesnes, and forced him to take shelter in the higher -parts of Mesopotamia. This was their first act of rebellion and -apostacy. Their second was to erect a lofty tower, as a landmark -to repair to, as a token to direct them, and prevent their -being scattered abroad. It was an idolatrous temple, erected in -honour of the sun, and called the tower of Bel: as the city, -from its consecration to the sun, was named Bel-on: the city of -the solar god. Their intention was to have founded a great, if -not an universal, empire: but their purpose was defeated by -the confounding of their labial utterance. By this judgment they -were dispersed; the tower was deserted; and the city left -unfinished. These circumstances seem, in great measure, to be -recorded by the gentile writers. They add, that a war soon after -commenced between the Titans and the family of Zeuth. -This was no other than the war mentioned by Moses; which was -carried on by four kings of the family of Shem against the sons -of Ham and Chus. The dispersion from Babylonia had weakened -the Cuthites. The house of Shem took advantage of their -dissipation, and recovered the land of Shinar, which had been -unduly usurped by their enemies. After this success they proceeded -farther: and attacked the Titans in all their quarters. -After a contest of some time they made them tributaries: but -upon their rising in rebellion, after a space of thirteen years, the -confederates made a fresh inroad into their countries. “Twelve -years they served Chedorlaomer: and in the thirteenth they rebelled: -and in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the -kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashtaroth -Karnaim;” who were no other than the Titans. They were -accordingly rendered by the Seventy, “the giant brood of Ashtaroth:” -and the valley of the Rephaim, in Samuel, is translated -“the valley of the Titans.” From the sacred historians -we may then infer that there were two periods of this war. The -first, when the king of Elam and his associates laid the Rephaim -under contribution: the other, when, upon their rebellion, they -reduced them a second time to obedience. The first part is -mentioned by several ancient writers, and is said to have lasted -ten years. Hesiod takes notice of both, but makes the first -rather of longer duration:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ten years and more they sternly strove in arms.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In the second engagement the poet informs us that the Titans -were quite discomfited and ruined: and according to the mythology -of the Greeks, they were condemned to reside in Tartarus, -at the extremity of the known world. A large body of -Titanians, after their dispersion, settled in Mauritania: which is -the region called Tartarus. The mythologists adjudged the -Titans to the realms of night merely from not attending to the -purport of the term ζοφος. This word described the West, and -it signified also darkness. From this secondary acceptation the -Titans of the West were consigned to the realms of night: being -situated, with respect to Greece towards the regions of the setting -sun. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_206" href="#FNanchor_206" class="label">[206]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent40"><i>Wielding aloft</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Precipitous rocks.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This, perhaps, -suggested to Milton the arming the angels with mountains:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They pluck’d the seated hills with all their load;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rocks, waters, woods; and by the shaggy tops</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Uplifting, bore them in their hands.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Par. Lost.</span> vi.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_207" href="#FNanchor_207" class="label">[207]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent32"><i>The dark chasm of hell</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Was shaken.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This is expanded -by Milton with uncommon sublimity:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hell heard th’ insufferable noise: hell saw</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heaven ruining from heaven, and would have fled</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Affrighted: but strict Fate had cast too deep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right">Book vi.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_208" href="#FNanchor_208" class="label">[208]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent40"><i>His whole of might</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Broke from him.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Milton attains -to a higher conception of omnipotence in the passage:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet half in strength he put not forth, but check’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His thunder in mid-volley: for he meant</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not to destroy, but root them out of heaven.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>There is, however, nothing in Milton which equals in sublimity -the sudden expansion of power in the soul of the deity: ειθαρ -μεν μενεος πληντο φρενες. The plan of the battle of angels is evidently -built on that of the battle of giants: the Messiah, like -Hesiod’s Jove, coming forth to decide the contest; and sending -before him thunderbolts and plagues. Milton’s magnificent -imagery of the chariot is borrowed from the vision of the prophet -Ezekiel.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_209" href="#FNanchor_209" class="label">[209]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent32"><i>Through the void</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Of Erebus.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Χαος is here only -a gulf or void. Le Clerc quotes Aristophanes to show that it -is the vacuity of air: but the conflagration of air has already -been described. Grævius is undoubtedly right in interpreting it -the subterraneous abyss, or Erebus: in which sense it is afterwards -used by Hesiod; when the Titans are said to dwell “beyond -the obscure chaos,” or chasm. Virgil uses chaos in this -acceptation, Æneid. vi. 205:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent16">Ye silent shades!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh Chaos hoar! and Phlegethon profound!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Pitt.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>So also Ovid, Metamorph. x. Orpheus to Pluto and Proserpine:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I call you by those sights so full of fear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This chaos vast; these silent kingdoms drear!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_210" href="#FNanchor_210" class="label">[210]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24"><i>The heaven and earth</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Met hurtling in mid-air.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Milton, Paradise -Lost, book ii:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent14">Nor was his ear less pealed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With noises loud and ruinous ...</div> - <div class="verse indent20">than if this frame</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of heaven were falling, and these elements</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In mutiny had from their axle torn</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The steadfast earth.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_211" href="#FNanchor_211" class="label">[211]</a> <i>The war-unsated Gyges.</i>] Hesiod has confounded the history -by supposing the Giants and Titans to have been different persons. -He accordingly makes them oppose each other: and even -Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges, whom all other writers mention -as Titans, are by him introduced in opposition, and described as -of another family. His description is however much to the purpose, -and the first contest and dispersion are plainly alluded to. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_212" href="#FNanchor_212" class="label">[212]</a> <i>The Titan host o’er-shadowing.</i>] Milton, Par. Lost, b. vi.:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Themselves invaded next and on their heads</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Main promontories flung, which in the air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came shadowing, and oppress’d whole legions arm’d.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_213" href="#FNanchor_213" class="label">[213]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent36"><i>So far beneath</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>This earth.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Virgil, Æn. vi. 577:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The gaping gulf low to the centre lies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And twice as deep as earth is distant from the skies:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rivals of the gods, the Titan race,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here, singed with lightning, roll within th’ unfathom’d space.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_214" href="#FNanchor_214" class="label">[214]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent32"><i>The verge</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Of Tartarus.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The ancients had -a notion that the earth was a widely extended plain, which terminated -abruptly in a vast clift of immeasurable descent. At -the bottom was a chaotic pool, which so far sunk beneath the -confines of the world, that, to express the depth and distance, -they imagined an anvil of iron, tossed from the top, could not -reach it in ten days. This mighty pool was the great Atlantic -ocean: and these extreme parts of the earth were Mauritania -and Iberia: for in each of these countries the Titans resided. -<span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>This explains the introduction of Atlas before the gates of Tartarus: -Guietus is therefore in error when, not being able to account -for this situation of Atlas, he marks the passage as supposititious.</p> - -<p>Milton’s classical reading appears in his admeasurement of the -distance which the rebel angels passed in their fall from heaven:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Nine</i> days they fell: the <i>tenth</i> the yawning gulf</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Received them.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_215" href="#FNanchor_215" class="label">[215]</a> <i>Arise and end.</i>] Seneca, Hercules Frantic:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Rank with corruption’s moss the sterile vast</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Of that abyss: th’ unsightly earth is numb’d</div> - <div class="verse indent4">In its eternal barren hoariness:</div> - <div class="verse indent8">The dismal end of things:</div> - <div class="verse indent8">The limits of the world:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Air moveless hangs with clinging weight above:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And black night brooding sits</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Upon the lifeless universe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_216" href="#FNanchor_216" class="label">[216]</a> <i>A drear and ghastly wilderness.</i>] Homer, Il. xx.:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent16">A dismal wilderness</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hoary with desolation: which the gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behold, and shuddering turn their eyes away.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_217" href="#FNanchor_217" class="label">[217]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>But him the whirls of vexing hurricanes</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Toss to and fro.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Dante, Inferno, -canto quinto:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I venn’ in luogo d’ogni luce muto:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Che mughia, come fa mar per tempesta,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Se da contrarii venti se combattuto:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">La bufera infernale, che mai non resta,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mena gli spiriti con la sua rapina,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Voltando et percuotendo gli molesta.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They reach a spot, void of all ray of light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which howls as seas in storms, where winds opposing fight:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hellish whirlwind, never resting, hurls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hovering spirits snatch’d upon its whirls:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And vexing smites, and eddying turns them round.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Milton seems to have conceived from this passage of Hesiod -his idea of Satan falling down the chaotic void, book ii.:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A vast vacuity: all unawares,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down he drops</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ten thousand fathoms deep: and to this hour</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Down had been falling, had not, by ill chance,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Instinct with fire and nitre hurried him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As many miles aloft.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_218" href="#FNanchor_218" class="label">[218]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4"><i>Alternate as they glide athwart</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The brazen threshold.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Milton, Par. Lost, vi. 4:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20">There is a cave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within the mount of God, fast by his throne,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where light and darkness in perpetual round</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lodge and dislodge by turns, which makes through heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Grateful vicissitude, like day and night:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Light issues forth, and at the other door</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Obsequious darkness enters, till her hour</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To veil the heaven.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_219" href="#FNanchor_219" class="label">[219]</a> <i>Sleep, Death’s half brother.</i>] Virg. Æn. vi. 278:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Here Toils and Death, and Death’s half-brother Sleep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_220" href="#FNanchor_220" class="label">[220]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20"><i>Nor them the shining Sun</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>E’er with his beam contemplates.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Odyssey, xi. 14:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With clouds and darkness veil’d: on whom the Sun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or when he climbs the starry arch, or when</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earthward he slopes again his westering wheels.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_221" href="#FNanchor_221" class="label">[221]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24"><i>To immortal gods</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>A foe.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Probably from his -destroying the human favourites of the gods, and the sons of the -goddesses who have descended to mortal amours: as in the instances -of Hyacinthus, the favourite of Apollo; and Memnon, -the son of Aurora; whose death and burial are described with -such romantic fancy in Quintus Calaber, Post-Homerics, or Supplemental -Iliad.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_222" href="#FNanchor_222" class="label">[222]</a> <i>And stern Prosérpina.</i>] Many of the temples of Ceres were dedicated -to the deity under the name of Persephone or Proserpine, -who was supposed her daughter; but they were in reality the -same personage. Persephone was styled Cora; which the Greeks -misinterpreted the virgin or damsel. This was the same as -Cura, a feminine title of the Sun; by which Ceres also was -called at Cnidos. However mild and gentle Proserpine may -have been represented in her virgin state by the poets, yet her -tribunal seems in many places to have been very formidable. In -consequence of this we find her, with Minos and Rhadamanthus, -condemned to the shades below as an infernal inquisitor. Nonnus -says, “Proserpine armed the Furies:” the notion of which -Furies arose from the cruelties practised in the Prutaneia, or -fire-temples. They were originally only priests of fire; but were -at last ranked among the hellish tormentors. Herodotus speaks -of a Prutaneion in Achaia Pthiotic, of which he gives a fearful -account. No person, he says, ever entered the precincts, that -returned: whatever person strayed that way was immediately -seized upon by the priests and sacrificed. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_223" href="#FNanchor_223" class="label">[223]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24"><i>With arch’d roofs</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Of loftiest rock o’erhung.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Not far from the -ruins (of Nonacrum, a town of Arcadia,) is a lofty cliff: I have -seen none that ascended to such a height. A stream distils from -the declivity. This water is denominated Styx by the Greeks. -It is deadly to man and to all animals whatever. <span class="smcap">Pausanias</span>, -<i>Arcadics</i>, b. viii.</p> - -<p>Le Clerc supposes an opinion to have existed, that a person -wrongfully accused might securely drink the water of Styx: and -conceives Hesiod to mean that the gods drank of the water at -the same time that they made a libation, and if they took a false -oath, were convicted by the lethargic properties of this noxious -stream.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_224" href="#FNanchor_224" class="label">[224]</a> <i>Jove sends Iris down.</i>] To this covenant (with Noah) Hesiod -alludes: he calls it the great oath. He says that this oath was -Iris, or the bow in the heavens; to which the deity appealed -when any of the inferior divinities were guilty of an untruth. On -such an occasion the great oath of the gods was appointed to -fetch water from the extremities of the ocean, with which those -were tried who had falsified their word. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>The words will certainly admit of this construction; but the -context directs that the great oath be connected with the Stygian -water. The employment of Iris on the mission is still a remarkable -coincidence with the diluvian covenant.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_225" href="#FNanchor_225" class="label">[225]</a> <i>The sacred river-head.</i>] That is, the ocean; which probably -received this title from the Nile, a river highly venerated, being -of old called the Oceanus. Styx is said to be a horn, or branch -of the ocean, from the ancient idea that all rivers sprang from -it: Homer Il. 21:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Therefore not kingly Acheloius,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor yet the strength of ocean’s vast profound:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Although from him all rivers and all seas,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All fountains and all wells proceed, can boast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Comparison with Jove.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The rivers of Earth and Orcus were believed to communicate; -thus Virgil, Æn. vi. 658, of the Elysian fields:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In fragrant laurel groves, where Po’s vast flood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From upper earth rolls copious through the wood.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_226" href="#FNanchor_226" class="label">[226]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent34"><i>Libation pours</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And is forsworn.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It was customary -to pour a libation, while taking a solemn oath. Thus in the -third Iliad:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then pouring from the beaker to the cups</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They fill’d them.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All-glorious Jove, and ye, the powers of heaven!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whoso shall violate this contract first,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So be their blood, their children’s and their own,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pour’d out, as this libation on the ground.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_227" href="#FNanchor_227" class="label">[227]</a> <i>Her youngest-born Typhœus.</i>] Taph, which at times was -rendered Tuph, Toph, and Taphos, was a name current among -the Amonians, by which they called their high places. Lower -Ægypt being a flat, and annually overflowed, the natives were -forced to raise the soil on which they built their principal edifices, -in order to secure them from the inundation: and many of their -sacred towers were erected on conical mounds of earth. There -were often hills of the same form constructed for religious purposes, -upon which there was no building. These were high -altars; on which they used sometimes to offer human sacrifices. -Tophet, where the Israelites made their children pass through -fire to Moloch, was a mount of this form. Those cities in -Ægypt which had a high place of this sort, and rites in consequence -of it, were styled Typhonian. Many writers say that -these rites were performed to Typhon at the tomb of Osiris. -Hence he was in later times supposed to have been a person; -one of immense size; and he was also esteemed a god. But this -arose from the common mistake by which places were substituted -for the deities there worshipped. Typhon was the Tuph-on, or -altar; and the offerings were made to the Sun, styled On; the -same as Osiris and Busiris. What they called his tombs were -mounds of earth raised very high: some of these had also lofty -towers adorned with pinnacles and battlements. They had also -carved on them various symbols; and particularly serpentine -hieroglyphics; in memorial of the god to whom they were sacred. -In their upper story was a perpetual fire, that was plainly seen in -the night. The gigantic stature of Typhon was borrowed from this -object: and his character was formed from the hieroglyphical -representations in the temples styled Typhonian. This may be -inferred from the allegorical description of Typhœus given by -Hesiod. Typhon and Typhœus were the same personage; and -the poet represents him of a mixed form; being partly a man, -and partly a monstrous dragon, whose head consisted of an assemblage -of smaller serpents: and as there was a perpetual fire -kept up in the upper story, he describes it as shining through the -apertures of the building. The tower of Babel was undoubtedly -a Tuph-on, or altar of the Sun; though generally represented as -a temple. Hesiod certainly alludes to some ancient history concerning -the demolition of Babel, when he describes Typhon or -Typhœus as overthrown by Jove. He represents him as the -youngest son of Earth; as a deity of great strength and immense -stature; and adds what is very remarkable, that had it not been -for the interposition of the chief god, this dæmon would have -obtained a universal empire. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>Equally remarkable is the diversity of voices, described as -issuing from the different heads of the giant. In the Mexican -mythology a giant builds an artificial hill, in the form of a pyramid, -as a memorial of the mountain, in whose caverns he, -with six others, had taken shelter from a deluge. This monument -was to reach the clouds; but the gods destroyed it with -fire. See Humboldt’s American Researches.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_228" href="#FNanchor_228" class="label">[228]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent14"><i>Beneath his everlasting feet</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The great Olympus trembled.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Mr. Todd, in his -notes on Milton, quotes the passage describing the rushing of the -Messiah’s chariot, as superior in grandeur to this of Hesiod:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent14">Under his burning wheels</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The steadfast empyreum shook throughout,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All but the throne itself of God.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The majesty of Milton’s exception certainly exceeds Hesiod in -loftiness of thought: but the mere rising of Jupiter causing the -mountain to rock beneath his eternal feet, is more sublime than -the shaking of the firmament from the rolling of wheels.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_229" href="#FNanchor_229" class="label">[229]</a> <i>The lightning-stricken deity.</i>] Τοιο ανακτος. <i>King</i> is merely a -title of deity, and was applied before to Prometheus.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_230" href="#FNanchor_230" class="label">[230]</a> <i>The woody dales.</i>] Forges were erected in woody valleys, on -account of the abundance of fuel. <span class="smcap">Guietus.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_231" href="#FNanchor_231" class="label">[231]</a> <i>Lo! from Typhœus is the strength of winds.</i>] By these are -meant the intermediary winds: with some of which it is evident -that Hesiod was acquainted, although perhaps they were not yet -distinguished by names. The ancient Greeks at first used only -the four cardinal winds: but afterwards admitted four collaterals. -Vitruvius enumerates twenty collateral winds in the Roman -practice.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_232" href="#FNanchor_232" class="label">[232]</a> <i>These born from gods.</i>] That is, from <i>superior</i> gods: as Aurora -and Astræus.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_233" href="#FNanchor_233" class="label">[233]</a> <i>Led Metis.</i>] One of the most ancient deities of the Amonians -was named Meed or Meet; by which was signified divine wisdom. -It was rendered by the Grecians Metis. It was represented -under the symbol of a beautiful female countenance surrounded -with serpents. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>The figure of wedding Wisdom occurs in “The Wisdom of -Solomon,” ch. viii. v. 2. “I loved her, and sought her out from -my youth: I desired to make her my spouse, and I was a lover -of her beauty.”</p> - -<p>In the Proverbs, Solomon describes Wisdom as the companion -of Deity, in the language of exquisite poetry:</p> - -<p>“I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever -the earth was. When there were no depths I was brought forth: -when there were no fountains abounding with water. When he -prepared the heavens I was there: when he set a compass upon -the face of the depths: when he established the clouds above: -when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave -to the sea his decree: when he appointed the foundations of the -earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I -was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.” Chap. viii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_234" href="#FNanchor_234" class="label">[234]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent28"><i>The blue-eyed maid</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Minerva.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>An-ath signified -the <i>fountain of light</i>: and was abbreviated Nath and Neith by -the Ægyptians. They worshipped under this title a divine emanation, -supposed to be the goddess of Wisdom. The Athenians, -who came from Sais, in Ægypt, were denominated from this -deity, whom they expressed Athana, or in the Ionian manner, -Athene. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>Cudworth mentions Hammon and Neith as titles for one and -the same deity; and quotes Plutarch as authority that Isis and -Neith were also the same among the Ægyptians: and therefore -the temple of Neith or Athene (Minerva) at Sais, was by him -called the temple of Isis. Intellectual System, b. i. ch. 4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_235" href="#FNanchor_235" class="label">[235]</a> <i>Brought the three Graces forth.</i>] As Charis was a tower sacred -to fire, some of the poets supposed a nymph of that name, who -was beloved by Vulcan. Homer speaks of her as his wife. The -Graces were said to be related to the Sun, who was, in reality, -the same as Vulcan. The Sun, among the people of the East, -was called Hares, and with a strong guttural, Chares: and his -temple was styled Tor-chares: this the Greeks expressed Tricharis; -and from thence formed a notion of three Graces. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_236" href="#FNanchor_236" class="label">[236]</a> <i>The arrow-shooting Dian.</i>] Artemis Diana and Venus -Dione were in reality the same deity, and had the same departments. -This sylvan goddess was distinguished by a crescent, as -well as Juno Samia; and was an emblem of the Arkite history, -and in consequence of it was supposed to preside over waters. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_237" href="#FNanchor_237" class="label">[237]</a> <i>Hebe.</i>] Hebe is a mere personification of youth. The poets -made her the cup-bearer of the gods, as an emblem of their immortality.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_238" href="#FNanchor_238" class="label">[238]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26"><i>Pallas; fierce,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Rousing the war-field’s tumult.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In her martial -character Minerva is intended to personify the wisdom and policy -of war as opposed to brute force and animal courage; which are -represented by Mars.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_239" href="#FNanchor_239" class="label">[239]</a> <i>Illustrious Vulcan.</i>] The author of the New Analysis has exploded -the notion that Vulcan was the same with Tubal-cain: -who is mentioned in Genesis iv. 22, as “an instructor of every -artificer in brass and iron:” for nothing of this craft was of old -attached to Hephaistus or Vulcan: who was the god of fire; -that is, the Sun. Later mythologists degraded him to a blacksmith; -and placed him over the Cyclops, or Cyclopians, the -Sicilian worshippers of fire. The emblems carved in the temples -led to the idea of Vulcan and the Cyclops forging thunderbolts -and weapons for the celestial armoury.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_240" href="#FNanchor_240" class="label">[240]</a> <i>Sea-potent Triton.</i>] The Hetrurians erected on their shores -towers and beacons for the sake of their navigation, which they -called Tor-ain: whence they had a still farther denomination of -Tor-aini (Tyrrheni). Another name for buildings of this nature -was Tirit or Turit: which signified a tower or turret. The name -of Triton is a contraction of Tirit-on: and signifies the tower of -the Sun: but a deity was framed from it, who was supposed to -have had the appearance of a man upwards, but downwards to -have been like a fish. The Hetrurians are thought to have been -the inventors of trumpets; and in their towers on the sea-coast -there were people appointed to be continually on the watch, both -by day and by night, and to give a proper signal if any thing -happened extraordinary. This was done by a blast from the -trumpet. In early times, however, these brazen instruments -were but little known; and people were obliged to use what were -near at hand; the conchs of the sea: by sounding these they -gave signals from the tops of the towers when any ship appeared: -and this is the implement with which Triton is more -commonly furnished. So Amphi-tirit is merely an oracular tower, -which by the poets has been changed into Amphitrite, and made -the wife of Neptune. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_241" href="#FNanchor_241" class="label">[241]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20"><i>Venus gave to Mars,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Breaker of shields, a dreadful offspring.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The making the goddess -of Love, Concord, and Fertility, the spouse of Mars, and -the mother of Fear and Terror, is obviously of later invention -and of Grecian origin: and was, no doubt, suggested by the -Rape of Helen, which was supposed to be instigated by Venus, -and which kindled the war of Troy. See that elegant and classical -poem of the sixth century: “The Rape of Helen” of Coluthus.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_242" href="#FNanchor_242" class="label">[242]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent28"><i>Harmonia last</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>She bare, whom generous Cadmus clasp’d as bride.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>I am persuaded -that no such person as Cadmus ever existed. If we consider -the whole history of this celebrated hero, we shall find that -it was impossible for any one person to have effected what he is -supposed to have performed. They were not the achievements of -one person nor of one age: the travels of Cadmus, like the expeditions -of Perseus, Sesostris, and Osiris, relate to colonies, -which at different times went abroad and were distinguished by -this title. As colonies of the same denomination went to parts of -the world widely distant, their ideal chieftain, whether Cadmus, -or Bacchus, or Hercules, was supposed to have traversed the -same ground.</p> - -<p>Harmonia, the wife of Cadmus, who has been esteemed a -mere woman, seems to have been an emblem of nature, and the -fostering nurse of all things. In some of the Orphic verses she -is represented not only as a deity, but as the light of the world. -She was supposed to have been a personage from whom all -knowledge was derived. On this account the books of science -were styled the books of Harmonia: as well as the books of -Hermes. These were four in number; of which Nonnus gives -a curious account, and says that they contained matter of wonderful -antiquity. The first of them is said to be coeval with the -world. Hence we find that Hermon or Harmonia was a deity to -whom the first writing is ascribed. The same is said of Hermes. -The invention is also attributed to Thoth. Cadmus is said not -only to have brought letters into Greece, but to have been the -inventor of them. Whence we may fairly conclude, that under -the characters of Hermon, Hermes, Thoth, and Cadmus, one -person is alluded to.</p> - -<p>The story of Cadmus, and of the serpent with which he engaged -upon his arrival in Bœotia, relates to the Ophite worship -which was there instituted by the Cadmians. So Jason in Colchis, -Apollo in Phocis, Hercules at Lerna, engaged with serpents: all -of which are histories of the same purport, but mistaken by the -latter Grecians. It is said of Cadmus that, at the close of his -life, he was, together with his wife Harmonia, changed into a -serpent of stone. This wonderful metamorphosis is supposed to -have happened at Encheliæ, a town of Illyria. The true history -is this. These two personages were here enshrined in a temple, -and worshipped under the symbol of a serpent. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_243" href="#FNanchor_243" class="label">[243]</a> <i>The glorious Hermes, herald of the gods.</i>] The Ægyptians -acknowledged two personages under the title of Hermes and -Thoth. The first was the same as Osiris; the most ancient of -all the gods, and the head of all. The other was called the -second Hermes; and likewise, for excellence, styled Trismegistus. -This person is said to have been a great adept in mysterious -knowledge, and an interpreter of the will of the gods. -He was a great prophet; and on that account was looked upon -as a divinity. To him they ascribed the reformation of the -Ægyptian year: and there were many books, either written by -him, or concerning him, which were preserved by the Ægyptians -in the most sacred recesses of their temples. As he had been -the cause of great riches to their nation, they styled him the -dispenser of wealth, and esteemed him the god of gain. We -are told that the true name of this Hermes was Siphoas. What -is Siphoas but Aosiph misplaced? and is not Aosiph the -Ægyptian name of the patriarch Joseph, as he was called by the -Hebrews? <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_244" href="#FNanchor_244" class="label">[244]</a> <i>Semele.</i>] The amour of Jupiter with Semele is described with -brilliant luxuriancy of fancy and diction by Nonnus in his Dionysiacs.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_245" href="#FNanchor_245" class="label">[245]</a> <i>Bacchus of golden hair.</i>] The history of Dionusus is closely -connected with that of Bacchus, though they were two distinct -persons. Dionusos is interpreted by the Latins Bacchus; but -very improperly. Bacchus was Chus, the grandson of Noah; -as Ammon was Ham. Dionusus was Noah; expressed Noos, -Nus, Nusus; the planter of the vine, and the inventor of fermented -liquors: whence he was also denominated Zeuth; which -signifies ferment; rendered Zeus by the Greeks. Dionusus was -the same as Osiris. According to the Grecian mythology, he is -represented as having been twice born; and is said to have had -two fathers and two mothers. He was also exposed in an ark, -and wonderfully preserved. The purport of which histories is -plain. We must, however, for the most part, consider the account -given of Dionusus as the history of the Dionusians. This -is two-fold: part relates to their rites and religion, in which -the great events of the infant world and preservation of mankind -in general were recorded: in the other part, which contains the -expeditions and conquests of this personage, are enumerated -the various colonies of the people who were denominated from -him. They were the same as the Osirians and Herculeans. -There were many places which claimed his birth: and as many -where was shown the spot of his interment. The Grecians, -wherever they met with a grot or cavern sacred to him, took it -for granted that he was born there: and wherever he had a -taphos, or high altar, supposed that he was there buried. The -same is also observable in the history of all the gods.</p> - -<p>There are few characters which at first sight appear more distinct -than those of Apollo and Bacchus. Yet the department -which is generally appropriated to Apollo as the Sun, I mean the -conduct of the year, is by Virgil given to Bacchus, Georg. i. 5:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Lights of the world! ye brightest orbs on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who lead the sliding year around the sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bacchus and Ceres!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Warton.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Hence we find that Bacchus is the Sun or Apollo; in reality -they were all three the same; he was the ruling deity of the -world. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>In this passage of Virgil, Ceres is Luna, or the Moon.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_246" href="#FNanchor_246" class="label">[246]</a> <i>Alcmena’s valiant son.</i>] Hercules was a title given to the -chief deity of the gentiles: who has been multiplied into almost -as many personages as there were countries where he was -worshipped. What has been attributed to this god singly was -the work of Herculeans, a people who went under this title, -among the many which they assumed, and who were the same -as the Osirians, Peresians, and Cuthites. Wherever there were -Herculeans, a Hercules has been supposed. Hence his character -has been variously represented. One while he appears little -better than a sturdy vagrant: at other times he is mentioned as -a great benefactor; also as the patron of science; the god of -eloquence, with the Muses in his train. He was the same as -Hermes, Osiris, and Dionusus; and his rites were introduced -into various parts by the Cuthites. In the detail of his peregrinations -is contained in great measure a history of that people, -and of their settlements. Each of these the Greeks have described -as a warlike expedition, and have taken the glory of it -to themselves. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_247" href="#FNanchor_247" class="label">[247]</a> <i>Medea.</i>] The natives of Colchis and Pontus were of the -Cuthite race: they were much skilled in simples. Their country -abounded in medicinal herbs, of which they made use both to -good and bad purposes. In the fable of Medea we may read the -character of the people: for that princess is represented as very -knowing in all the productions of nature, and as gifted with -supernatural powers. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_248" href="#FNanchor_248" class="label">[248]</a> <i>Plutus.</i>] Plutus is the same with Pluto: who, in his subterranean -character, presided over all the riches of the ground: -whether metallic or vegetable.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_249" href="#FNanchor_249" class="label">[249]</a> <i>Jason.</i>] In the account of the Argo we have, undeniably, the -history of a sacred ship; the first which was ever constructed. -This truth the best writers among the Grecians confess; though -the merit of the performance they would fain take to themselves. -Yet after all their prejudices, they continually betray the truth, -and show that the history was derived to them from Ægypt. -Plutarch informs us, that the constellation, which the Greeks -called the Argo, was a representation of the sacred ship of -Osiris: and that it was out of reverence placed in the heavens. -The ship of Osiris was esteemed the first ship constructed; and -was no other than the ark. Jason was certainly a title of the -Arkite god; the same as Areas, Argus, Inachus, and Prometheus: -and the temples supposed to have been built by him in -regions so remote were temples erected to his honour. It is -said of this personage that, when a child, he underwent the -same fate as Osiris, Perseus, and Dionusus: “he was concealed, -and shut up in an ark, as if he had been dead.” <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_250" href="#FNanchor_250" class="label">[250]</a> <i>Sage Chiron.</i>] Chiron, so celebrated for his knowledge, was -a mere personage formed from a tower or temple of that name. -It stood in Thessaly; and was inhabited by a set of priests called -Centauri. They were so denominated from the deity they worshipped, -who was represented under a particular form. They -styled him Cahen-taur: and he was the same as the Minotaur -of Crete, and the Tauromen of Sicilia: consequently of an -emblematical and mixed figure. The people, by whom this -worship was introduced, were many of them Anakim; and are -accordingly represented as of great strength and stature. Such -persons among the people of the East were styled <i>nephele</i>, -which the Greeks, in after-times, supposed to relate to Nephele, -a cloud: and in consequence described the Centaurs as born of a -cloud. Chiron was a temple: probably at Nephele in Thessalia; -the most ancient seat of the Nephelim. His name is a compound -of Chir-on: the tower or temple of the Sun. In places of this -sort, people used to study the heavenly motions; and they were -made use of for seminaries, where young persons were instructed. -Hence Achilles was said to have been taught by Chiron; who is -reported to have had many disciples. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_251" href="#FNanchor_251" class="label">[251]</a> <i>Circe.</i>] From the knowledge of the Cuthites in herbs we may -justly infer a great excellence in physic. Ægypt the nurse of arts, -was much celebrated for botany. To the Titanians, or race of -Chus, was attributed the invention of chemistry: hence it is -said by Syncellus, that chemistry was the discovery of the -Giants. Circe and Calypso are, like Medea, represented as -very experienced in pharmacy and simples. Under these characters -we have the history of Cuthite priestesses, who presided -in particular temples near the sea-coast, and whose charms and -incantations were thought to have a wonderful influence. The -nymphs who attended them were a lower order in these sacred -colleges; and they were instructed by their superiors in their arts -and mysteries. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206"></a>[206]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207"></a>[207]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SHIELD_OF_HERCULES">The Shield of Hercules.</h2> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208"></a>[208]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209"></a>[209]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">THE SHIELD OF HERCULES.</h2> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210"></a>[210]</span></p> - -<h3>The Argument.</h3> - -<p>I. The arrival of Alcmena at Thebes, as the companion of her -husband’s exile. The expedition of Amphitryon against the -Teloboans. The artifice of Jupiter, who anticipates his return, -and steals the embraces of Alcmena. The birth of Hercules.</p> - -<p>II. The meeting of Hercules with Cygnus: the description of -his armour: and particularly of his <span class="smcap">Shield</span>, diversified with -sculptured imagery.</p> - -<p>III. The combat: and the burial of Cygnus.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211"></a>[211]</span></p> - -<h3>THE SHIELD OF HERCULES.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Or as Alcmena, from Electryon born,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The guardian of his people, her lov’d home</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And natal soil abandoning, to Thebes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came with Amphitryon: with the brave in war.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She all the gentle race of womankind</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_252" href="#Footnote_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a>In height surpass’d and beauty: nor with her</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212"></a>[212]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Might one in prudence vie, of all who sprang</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From mortal fair-ones, blending in embrace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With mortal men. Both from her tressed head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And <a id="FNanchor_253" href="#Footnote_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a>from the darkening lashes of her eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She breathed enamouring odour like the breath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of balmy Venus: passing fair she was,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet not the less her consort with heart-love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Revered she; so had never woman loved.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213"></a>[213]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Though he her noble sire by violent strength</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had slain, amid <a id="FNanchor_254" href="#Footnote_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a>those herds, the cause of strife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Madden’d to sudden rage: his native soil</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He left, and thence to the Cadmean state,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shield-bearing tribe, came supplicant: and there</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dwelt with his modest spouse; yet from the joys</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of love estranged: for he might not ascend</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The couch of her, the beautiful of feet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till for the slaughter of her brethren brave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His arm had wreak’d revenge; and burn’d with fire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The guilty cities of those warlike men</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Taphians and Teloboans. This the task</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Assign’d: the gods on high that solemn vow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had witness’d: of their anger visitant</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In fear he stood; and speeded in all haste</div> - <div class="verse indent0">T’ achieve the mighty feat, imposed by Heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Him the Bœotians, gorers of the steed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who coveting the war-shout and the shock</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214"></a>[214]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of battle o’er the buckler breathe aloft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their open valour: him the Locrian race</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Close-combating; and of undaunted soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Phocians follow’d: towering in the van</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amphitryon gallant shone: and in his host</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gloried. But other counsel secret wove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within his breast the sire of gods and men:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That both to gods and to th’ inventive race</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of man a great deliverer might arise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sprung from his loins, of plague-repelling fame.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep-framing in his inmost soul deceit,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He through the nightly darkness took his way</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From high Olympus, glowing with the love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of her, the fair-one of the graceful zone.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swift to the Typhaonian mount he pass’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thence drew nigh Phycium’s lofty ridge: sublime</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There sitting, the wise counsellor of heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Revolved a work divine. That self-same night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He sought the couch of her, who stately treads</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With long-paced step; and melting in her arms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Took there his fill of love. That self-same night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The host-arousing chief, the mighty deed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perform’d, in glory to his home returned:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor to the vassals and the shepherd hinds</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215"></a>[215]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">His footstep bent, before he climb’d the couch</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of his Alcmena: such inflaming love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seiz’d in the deep recesses of his heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The chief of thousands. And as he, that scarce</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Escapes, and yet escapes, from grievous plague</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or the hard-fettering chain, flies free away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Joyful,—so struggling through that arduous toil</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With pain accomplish’d, wishful, eager, traced</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The prince his homeward way. The live-long night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He with the modest partner of his bed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Embracing lay, and revell’d in delight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bounteous bliss of love’s all-charming queen.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thus by a god and by the first of men</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alike subdued to love, Alcmena gave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Twin-brethren birth, within the seven-fold gates</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Thebes: yet brethren though they were, unlike</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their natures: this of weaker strain; but that</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far more of man; valorous and stern and strong.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Him, Hercules, conceived she from th’ embrace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the cloud-darkener: to th’ Alcæan chief,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shaker of spears, gave Iphiclus: a race</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Distinct: nor wonder: this of mortal man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That of imperial Jove. The same who slew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lofty-minded Cygnus, child of Mars.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216"></a>[216]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">For in the grove of the far-darting god</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He found him: and insatiable of war</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His father Mars beside. Both bright in arms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bright as the sheen of burning flame, they stood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On their high chariot; and the horses fleet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Trampled the ground with rending hoofs: around</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In parted circle smoked the cloudy dust,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Up-dash’d beneath the trampling hoofs, and cars</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of complicated frame. The well-framed cars</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rattled aloud: loud clash’d the wheels: while rapt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In their full speed the horses flew. Rejoiced</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The noble Cygnus; for the hope was his,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Jove’s warlike offspring and his charioteer</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To slay, and strip them of their gorgeous mail.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But to his vows the Prophet-god of day</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Turn’d a deaf ear: for he himself set on</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ assault of Hercules. Now all the grove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Phœbus’ altar, flash’d with glimmering arms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of that tremendous god: himself blazed light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And darted radiance from his eye-balls glared</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As it were flame. But who of mortal mould</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had e’er endured in daring opposite</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To rush before him, save but Hercules,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Ioläus, an illustrious name?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217"></a>[217]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">For mighty strength was theirs: and arms that stretch’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From their broad shoulders unapproachable</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In valorous force, above their nervous frames:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He therefore thus bespoke his charioteer:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Oh hero Ioläus! dearest far</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To me of all the race of mortal men;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I deem it sure that ’gainst the blest of Heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amphitryon sinn’d, when to the fair-wall’d Thebes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He came, forsaking Tirynth’s well-built walls,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Electryon midst the strife of wide-brow’d herds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Slain by his hand: to Creon suppliant came,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And her of flowing robe, Henioche:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who straight embraced, and all of needful aid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lent hospitable, as to suppliant due:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And more for this, e’en from the heart they gave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All honour and observance. So he lived,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Exulting in his graceful-ankled spouse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alcmena. When the rapid year roll’d round,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We, far unlike in stature and in soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were born, thy sire and I: him Jove bereaved</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of wisdom; who from his parental home</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Went forth, and to the fell Eurystheus bore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His homage. Wretch! for he most sure bewail’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In after-time that grievous fault, a deed</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218"></a>[218]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Irrevocable. On myself has Fate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Laid heavy labours. But, oh friend! oh now</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quick snatch the purple reins of these my steeds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rapid of hoof: the manly courage rouse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within thee: now with strong unerring grasp</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Guide the swift chariot’s whirl, and wind the steeds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rapid of hoof: fear nought the dismal yell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of mortal-slayer Mars, whilst to and fro</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He ranges fierce Apollo’s hallow’d grove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With frenzying shout: for, be he as he may</div> - <div class="verse indent0">War-mighty, he of war shall take his fill.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then answer’d Ioläus: “Oh revered!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doubtless the father of the gods and men</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy head delights to honour; and the god</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who keeps <a id="FNanchor_255" href="#Footnote_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a>the wall of Thebes and guards her towers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_256" href="#Footnote_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a>Bull-visaged Neptune: so be sure they give</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219"></a>[219]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Unto thy hand this mortal huge and strong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That from the conflict thou mayst bear away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">High glory. But now haste—in warlike mail</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dress now thy limbs, that, rapidly as thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mingling the shock of cars, we may be join’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In battle. He th’ undaunted son of Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall strike not with his terrors, nor yet me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Iphiclides: but swiftly, as I deem,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall he to flight betake him, from the race</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of brave Alcæus: who now pressing nigh</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gain on their foes and languish for the shout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of closing combat; to their eager ear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More grateful than the banquet’s revelry.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He said: and Hercules smiled stern his joy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Elate of thought: for he had spoken words</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Most welcome. Then with winged accents thus:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Jove-foster’d hero! it is e’en at hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The battle’s rough encounter: thou, as erst,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220"></a>[220]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In martial prudence firm, aright, aleft,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With vantage of the fray, unerring guide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arion huge, the sable-maned, and me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aid in the doubtful contest, as thou mayst.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thus having said, he sheathed his legs in greaves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of mountain brass, resplendent-white: famed gift</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Vulcan: o’er his breast he fitted close</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The corselet, variegated, beautiful,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of shining gold; this Jove-born Pallas gave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When first he rush’d to meet the mingling groans</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of battle. Then the mighty man athwart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His shoulder slung the sword, whose edge repels</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ approach of mortal harms: and clasp’d around</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His bosom, and reclining o’er his back,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He cast the hollow quiver. Lurk’d therein</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full many arrows: shuddering horror they</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inflicted, and the agony of death</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sudden, that chokes the suffocated voice:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The points were barb’d with death, and bitter steep’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In human tears: burnish’d the lengthening shafts:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And they were feather’d from the tawny plume</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of eagles. Now he grasp’d the solid spear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sharpen’d with brass: and on his brows of strength</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Placed the forged helm, high-wrought in adamant,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221"></a>[221]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">That cased the temples round, and fenced the head</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Hercules: the man of heavenly birth.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then with his hands he raised <span class="smcap">The Shield</span>, of disk</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Diversified: might none with missile aim</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pierce, nor th’ impenetrable substance rive</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shattering: a wondrous frame: since all throughout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bright with enamel, and with ivory,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And <a id="FNanchor_257" href="#Footnote_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a>mingled metal; and with ruddy gold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Refulgent, and with azure plates inlaid.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The scaly terror of a dragon coil’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full in the central field; unspeakable;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With eyes oblique retorted, that aslant</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shot gleaming flame: his hollow jaw was fill’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dispersedly with jagged fangs of white,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Grim, unapproachable. And next above</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dragon’s forehead fell, stern Strife in air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hung hovering, and array’d the war of men:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Haggard; whose aspect from all mortals reft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All mind and soul; whoe’er in brunt of arms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should match their strength, and face the son of Jove.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222"></a>[222]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Below this earth their spirits to th’ abyss</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Descend: and through the flesh that wastes away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the parching sun, their whitening bones</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Start forth, and moulder in the sable dust.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_258" href="#Footnote_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a>Pursuit was there, and fiercely rallying Flight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tumult and Terror: burning Carnage glow’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wild Discord madden’d there, and frantic Rout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ranged to and fro. A deathful Destiny</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There grasp’d a living man, that bled afresh</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From recent wound: another, yet unharm’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dragg’d furious; and a third, already dead,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Trail’d by the feet amid the throng of war:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And o’er her shoulders was a garment thrown</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223"></a>[223]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Dabbled in human blood: and in her look</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was horror: and a deep funereal cry</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Broke from her lips. There indescribable</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Twelve serpent heads rose dreadful: and with fear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Froze all, who drew on earth the breath of life,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whoe’er should match their strength in brunt of arms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And face the son of Jove: and oft as he</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Moved to the battle, from their clashing fangs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sound was heard. Such miracles display’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The buckler’s field, with living blazonry</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Resplendent: and those fearful snakes were streak’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er their cærulean backs with streaks of jet:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And their jaws blacken’d with a jetty dye.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wild from the forest, <a id="FNanchor_259" href="#Footnote_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a>herds of boars were there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lions, mutual-glaring; and in wrath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Leap’d on each other; and by troops they drove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their onset: nor yet these nor those recoil’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor quaked in fear. Of both the backs uprose</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bristling with anger: for a lion huge</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lay stretched amidst them, and two boars beside</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lifeless: the sable blood down-dropping ooz’d</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224"></a>[224]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Into the ground. So these with bowed backs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lay dead beneath the terrible lions: they,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For this the more incensed, both savage boars</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tawny lions, chafing sprang to war.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There too <a id="FNanchor_260" href="#Footnote_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a>the battle of the Lapithæ</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was wrought; the spear-arm’d warriors: Cæneus king,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hopleus, Phalérus, and Pirithous,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Dryas, and Exadius: Prolochus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mopsus of Titaressa, Ampyx’ son,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A branch of Mars, and Theseus like a god:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Son of Ægéus: silver were their limbs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their armour golden: and to them opposed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Centaur band stood thronging: Asbolus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prophet of birds; Petræus huge of height;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arctus, and Urius, and of raven locks</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mimas; the two Peucidæ, Dryalus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Perimedes: all of silver frame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And grasping golden pine-trees in their hands.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At once they onset made: in very life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They rush’d, and hand to hand tumultuous closed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With pines and clashing spears. There fleet of hoof</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225"></a>[225]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The steeds were standing of stern-visaged Mars</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In gold: and he himself, tearer of spoils,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Life-waster, purpled all with dropping blood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As one who slew the living and despoil’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Loud-shouting to the warrior-infantry</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There vaulted on his chariot. Him beside</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stood Fear and Consternation: high their hearts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Panted, all eager for the war of men.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There too Minerva rose, leader of hosts,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Resembling Pallas when she would array</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The marshall’d battle. In her grasp the spear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on her brows a golden helm: athwart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her shoulders thrown her ægis. Went she forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In this array to meet the dreadful shout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of war. And there a tuneful choir appear’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of heaven’s immortals: in the midst the son</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Jove and of Latona sweetly rang</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon his golden harp. Th’ Olympian mount,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dwelling of gods, thrill’d back the broken sound.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there were seen th’ assembly of the gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Listening, encircled with their blaze of glory:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in sweet contest with Apollo there</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The virgins of Pieria raised the strain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Preluding; and they seem’d as though they sang</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226"></a>[226]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">With clear sonorous voice. And there appear’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sheltering haven from the untamed rage</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of ocean. It was wrought of tin refined,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And rounded by the chisel: and it seem’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like to the dashing wave: and in the midst</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full many dolphins chased the fry, and show’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As though they swam the waters, to and fro</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Darting tumultuous. Two of silver scale,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Panting above the wave, the fishes mute</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gorged, that beneath them shook their quivering fins</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In brass: but on the crag a fisher sate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Observant: in his grasp he held a net,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like one that, poising, rises to the throw.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There was the horseman, fair-hair’d Danaë’s son,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perseus: nor yet the buckler with his feet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Touch’d, nor yet distant hover’d: strange to think:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For nowhere on the surface of the shield</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He rested: so the crippled artist-god</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Illustrious framed him with his hands in gold.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bound to his feet were sandals wing’d: a sword</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of brass with hilt of sable ebony</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hung round him from the shoulders by a thong:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swift e’en as thought he flew. The visage grim</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of monstrous Gorgon all his back o’erspread:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227"></a>[227]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And wrought in silver, wondrous to behold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A veil was drawn around it, whence in gold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hung glittering fringes: and the dreadful helm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Pluto clasp’d the temples of the prince,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shedding a night of darkness. Thus outstretch’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In air, he seem’d like one to trembling flight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Betaken. Close behind the Gorgons twain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of nameless terror unapproachable</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came rushing: eagerly they stretch’d their arms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To seize him: from the pallid adamant,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Audibly as they rush’d, the clattering shield</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clank’d with a sharp shrill sound. Two grisly snakes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hung from their girdles, and with forking tongues</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lick’d their inflected jaws; and violent gnash’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their fangs fell glaring: from around their heads</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those Gorgons grim a flickering horror cast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through the wide air. Above them warrior men</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waged battle, grasping weapons in their hands.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_261" href="#Footnote_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a>Some from their city and their sires repell’d</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228"></a>[228]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Destruction: others hasten’d to destroy:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And many press’d the plain, but more still held</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The combat. On the strong-constructed towers</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stood women, shrieking shrill, and rent their cheeks</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In very life, by Vulcan’s glorious craft.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The elders hoar with age assembled stood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Without the gates, and to the blessed gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their hands uplifted, for their fighting sons</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fear-stricken. These again the combat held.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behind them stood the Fates, of aspect black,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Grim, slaughter-breathing, stern, insatiable,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gnashing their white fangs; and fierce conflict held</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For those who fell. Each eager-thirsting sought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To quaff the sable blood. Whom first they snatch’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prostrate, or staggering with the fresh-made wound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On him they struck their talons huge: the soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fled down th’ abyss, the horror-freezing gulf</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Tartarus. They, glutted to the heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With human gore, behind them cast the corse:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And back with hurrying rage they turn’d to seek</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The throng of battle. And hard by there stood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clotho and Lachesis; and Atropos,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229"></a>[229]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Somewhat in years inferior: nor was she</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A mighty goddess: yet those other Fates</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Transcending, and in birth the elder far.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all around one man in cruel strife</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were join’d: and on each other turn’d in wrath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their glowing eyes: and mingling desperate hands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And talons mutual strove. <a id="FNanchor_262" href="#Footnote_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a>And near to them</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stood Misery: wan, ghastly, worn with woe:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230"></a>[230]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Arid, and swoln of knees; with hunger’s pains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Faint-falling: from her lean hands long the nails</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Out-grew: an ichor from her nostrils flow’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Blood from her cheeks distill’d to earth: with teeth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All wide disclosed in grinning agony</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She stood: a cloud of dust her shoulders spread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And her eyes ran with tears. But next arose</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_263" href="#Footnote_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a>A well-tower’d city, by seven golden gates</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231"></a>[231]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Enclosed, that fitted to their lintels hung:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There men in dances and in festive joys</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Held revelry. Some on the smooth-wheel’d car</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A virgin bride conducted: then burst forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aloud the marriage-song: and far and wide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Long splendours flash’d from many a quivering torch</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Borne in the hands of slaves. Gay-blooming girls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Preceded, and the dancers follow’d blithe:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These with shrill pipe indenting the soft lip</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Breathed melody, while broken echoes thrill’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Around them: to the lyre with flying touch</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those led the love-enkindling dance. A group</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of youths was elsewhere imaged to the flute</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Disporting: some in dances and in song,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In laughter others. To the minstrel’s flute</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So pass’d they on; and the whole city seem’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As fill’d with pomps, with dances, and with feasts.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Others again, without the city walls,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232"></a>[232]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_264" href="#Footnote_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a>Vaulted on steeds and madden’d for the goal.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_265" href="#Footnote_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a>Others as husbandmen appear’d, and broke</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With coulter the rich glebe, and gather’d up</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their tunics neatly girded. Next arose</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A field thick-set with depth of corn: where some</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With sickle reap’d the stalks, their speary heads</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bent, as weigh’d down with pods of swelling grain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fruits of Ceres. Others into bands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gather’d, and threw upon the threshing-floor</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sheaves. And some again hard by were seen</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233"></a>[233]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Holding the vine-sickle, who clusters cut</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From the ripe vines; which from the vintagers</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Others in frails received, or bore away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_266" href="#Footnote_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a>In baskets thus up-piled, the cluster’d grapes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or black or pearly-white, cut from deep ranks</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of spreading vines, whose tendrils curling twined</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In silver, heavy-foliaged: near them rose</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ranks of vines, by Vulcan’s curious craft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Figured in gold. The vines leaf-shaking curl’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Round silver props. They therefore on their way</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pass’d jocund to one minstrel’s flageolet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Burthen’d with grapes that blacken’d in the sun.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some also trod the wine-press, and some quaff’d</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234"></a>[234]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The foaming must. But in another part</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were men who wrestled, or in gymnic fight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wielded the cæstus. Elsewhere men of chase</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were taking the fleet hares. Two keen-tooth’d dogs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bounded beside: these ardent in pursuit,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those with like ardour doubling on their flight.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Next them were horsemen, who sore effort made</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To win the prize of contest and hard toil.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">High o’er the well-compacted chariots <a id="FNanchor_267" href="#Footnote_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a>hung</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The charioteers: the rapid horses loosed</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235"></a>[235]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">At their full stretch, and shook the floating reins.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rebounding from the ground with many a shock</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flew clattering the firm cars, and creak’d aloud</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The naves of the round wheels. They therefore toil’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Endless: nor conquest yet at any time</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Achiev’d they, but a doubtful strife maintain’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the mid-course the prize, a tripod huge,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was placed in open sight; and it was carved</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In gold: the skilful Vulcan’s glorious craft.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rounding the uttermost verge <a id="FNanchor_268" href="#Footnote_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a>the ocean flow’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As in full swell of waters: and the shield</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All-variegated with whole circle bound.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swans of high-hovering wing there clamour’d shrill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And many skimm’d the breasted surge: and nigh</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fishes were tossing in tumultuous leaps.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sight marvellous e’en to thundering Jove: whose will</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bade Vulcan frame the buckler; vast and strong.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This fitting to his grasp the strong-nerved son</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Jupiter now shook with ease: and swift</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As from his father’s ægis-wielding arm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bolted lightning darts, he vaulted sheer</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236"></a>[236]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Above the harness’d chariot at a bound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Into the seat: the hardy charioteer</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stood o’er the steeds from high, and guided strong</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The crooked car. Now near to them approach’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pallas, the blue-eyed goddess, and address’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These winged words in animating voice:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_269" href="#Footnote_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a>“Race of the far-famed Lyngeus! both all-hail!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now verily the ruler of the Blest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en Jove, doth give you strength to spoil of life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cygnus your foe, and strip his gorgeous arms.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But I will breathe a word within thine ear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In counsel, oh most mighty midst the strong!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now soon as e’er from Cygnus thou hast reft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sweets of life, there leave him: on that spot,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Him and his armour: but th’ approach of Mars,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Slayer of mortals, watch with wary eye:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And where thy glance discerns a part exposed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Defenceless of the well-wrought buckler, strike!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With thy sharp point there wound him, and recede:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For know, thou art not fated to despoil</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The steeds and glorious armour of a god.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237"></a>[237]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Thus having said, the goddess all-divine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aye holding in her everlasting hands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Conquest and glory, rose into the car</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Impetuous: to the war-steeds shouted fierce</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The noble Ioläus: from the shout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They starting snatch’d the flying car, and hid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With dusty cloud the plain: for she herself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The goddess azure-eyed, sent into them</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wild courage, clashing on her brandish’d shield:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth groan’d around. That moment with like pace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en as a flame or tempest came they on,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cygnus the tamer of the steed, and Mars</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unsated with the roar of war. And now</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The coursers mid-way met, and face to face</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Neigh’d shrill: the broken echoes rang around.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then him the first stern Hercules bespake.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Oh soft of nature! why dost thou obstruct</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rapid steeds of men, who toils have proved</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hardships? Outward turn thy burnish’d car:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pass outward from the track and yield the way:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For I to Trachys ride, of obstacle</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Impatient: to the royal Ceyx: he</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er Trachys rules in venerable power,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As needs not thee be told, who hast to wife</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238"></a>[238]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">His blue-eyed daughter Themisthonöe:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soft-one! for not from thee shall Mars himself</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inhibit death, if truly hand to hand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We wage the battle: and e’en this I say</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That elsewhere, heretofore, himself has proved</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My mighty spear: when on the sandy beach</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Pylos ardour irrepressible</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of combat seized him, and to me opposed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He stood: but thrice, when stricken by my lance,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth propp’d his fall, and thrice his targe was cleft:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fourth time urging on my utmost force</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His ample shield I shattering rived, his thigh</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Transpierced, and headlong in the dust he fell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath my rushing spear: so there the weight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of shame upon him fell midst those of heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His gory trophies leaving to these hands.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So said he: but in no wise to obey</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Enter’d the thought of Cygnus the spear-skill’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor rein’d he back the chariot-whirling steeds.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then truly from their close-compacted cars</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Instant as thought they leap’d to earth: the son</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of kingly Mars, the son of mighty Jove.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aside, though not remote, the charioteers</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The coursers drove of flowing manes: but then</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239"></a>[239]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the trampling sound of rushing feet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The broad earth sounded hollow: and <a id="FNanchor_270" href="#Footnote_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a>as rocks</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From some high mountain-top precipitate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Leap with a bound, and o’er each other whirl’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shock in the dizzying fall: and many an oak</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of lofty branch, pine-tree and poplar deep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of root are crash’d beneath them, as their course</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rapidly rolls, till now they touch the plain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So met these foes encountering, and so burst</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their mighty clamour. Echoing loud throughout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The city of the Myrmidons gave back</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their lifted voices, and Iolchos famed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Arne, and Anthea’s grass-girt walls,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Helice. Thus with amazing shout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They join’d in battle: all-considering Jove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then greatly thunder’d: from the clouds of heaven</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240"></a>[240]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_271" href="#Footnote_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a>He cast forth dews of blood, and signal thus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of onset gave to his high-daring son.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_272" href="#Footnote_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a>As in the mountain thickets the wild boar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Grim to behold, and arm’d with jutting fangs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now with his hunters meditates in wrath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The conflict, whetting his white tusks aslant:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Foam drops around his churning jaws; his eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Show like to glimmering fires, and o’er his neck</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And roughen’d back he raises up erect</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The starting bristles, from the chariot whirl’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By steeds of war such leap’d the son of Jove.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Twas in that season when, on some green bough</div> - <div class="verse indent0">High-perch’d, the dusky-wing’d cicada first</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241"></a>[241]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Shrill chants to man a summer note; his drink,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His balmy food, the vegetative dew:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The livelong day from early dawn he pours</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His voice, what time the sun’s exhaustive heat</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fierce dries the frame: ’twas in that season when</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bristly ears of millet spring with grain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which they in summer sow: when the crude grape</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Faint reddens on the vine, which Bacchus gave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The joy or anguish of the race of men;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en in that season join’d the war; and vast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The battle’s tumult rose into the heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_273" href="#Footnote_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a>As two grim lions for a roebuck slain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wroth in contention rush, and them betwixt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sound of roaring and of clashing teeth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ariseth; or <a id="FNanchor_274" href="#Footnote_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a>as vultures, curved of beak,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Crooked of talon, on a steepy rock</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242"></a>[242]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Contest loud-screaming; if perchance below</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some mountain-pastur’d goat or forest-stag</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sleek press the plain; whom far the hunter youth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pierced with fleet arrow from the bow-string shrill</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dismiss’d, and elsewhere wander’d, of the spot</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unknowing: they with keenest heed the prize</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mark, and in swooping rage each other tear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With bitterest conflict: so vociferous rush’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The warriors on each other. Cygnus, then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aiming to slay the son of Jupiter</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unmatch’d in strength, against the buckler struck</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His brazen lance, but through the metal plate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Broke not; the present of a god preserved.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On th’ other side he of Amphitryon named,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strong Hercules, between the helm and shield</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drove his long spear; and underneath the chin</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through the bare neck smote violent and swift.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The murderous ashen beam at once the nerves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Twain of the neck cut sheer; for all the man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drop’d, and his force went from him: down he fell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Headlong: <a id="FNanchor_275" href="#Footnote_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a>as falls a thunder-blasted oak,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243"></a>[243]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Or sky-capt rock, riven by the lightning shaft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Jove, in smouldering smoke is hurl’d from high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So fell he: and his brass-emblazon’d mail</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clatter’d around him. Jove’s firm-hearted son</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then left the corse, abandon’d where it lay:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But wary watch’d the mortal-slayer god</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Approach, and view’d him o’er with terrible eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stern-lowering. <a id="FNanchor_276" href="#Footnote_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a>As a lion, who has fall’n</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perchance on some stray beast, with griping claws</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Intent, strips down the lacerated hide;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drains instantaneous the sweet life, and gluts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en to the fill his gloomy heart with blood;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244"></a>[244]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Green-eyed he glares in fierceness; with his tail</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lashes his shoulders and his swelling sides,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with his feet tears up the ground; not one</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might dare to look upon him, nor advance</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nigh, with desire of conflict: such in truth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The war-insatiate Hercules to Mars</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stood in array, and gather’d in his soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prompt courage. But the other near approach’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Anguish’d at heart; and both encountering rush’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With cries of battle. As when from high ridge</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of some hill-top abrupt, tumbles a crag</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Precipitous, and sheer, a giddy space,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bounds in a whirl and rolls impetuous down:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shrill rings the vehement crash, till some steep clift</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Obstructs: to this the mass is borne along;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This wedges it immoveable: e’en so</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Destroyer Mars, bowing the chariot, rush’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yelling vociferous with a shout: e’en so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As utterance prompt, met Hercules the shock</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And firm sustain’d. But Jove-born Pallas came</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With darkening shield uplifted, and to Mars</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stood interposed: and scowling with her eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tremendous, thus address’d her winged words:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Mars! hold thy furious valour: stay those hands</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245"></a>[245]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In prowess inaccessible: for know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It is not lawful for thee to divest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Slain Hercules of these his gorgeous arms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bold-hearted son of Jove: but come; rest thou</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From battle, nor oppose thyself to me.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She said: nor yet persuaded aught the soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Mars, the mighty of heart. With a great shout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He, brandishing his weapon like a flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sprang rapid upon Hercules, in haste</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To slay; and, for his slaughter’d son incensed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With violent effort hurl’d his brazen spear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Gainst the capacious targe. The blue-eyed maid</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_277" href="#Footnote_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a>Stoop’d from the chariot, and the javelin’s force</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Turn’d wide. Sore torment seiz’d the breast of Mars:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He bared his keen-edged falchion, and at once</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rush’d on the dauntless Hercules: but he,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The war-insatiate, as the God approach’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the well-wrought shield the thigh exposed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wounded with all his strength, and thrusting rived</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The shield’s large disk, and cleft it with his lance,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246"></a>[246]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And in the middle-way threw him to earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prostrate. But Fear and Consternation swift</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Urged nigh his well-wheel’d chariot: from the face</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of broad-track’d earth they raised him on the car</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Variously framed: thence lash’d with scourge the steeds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bounding up the vast Olympus flew.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But now Alcmena’s son and his compeer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The glorious Ioläus, having stripp’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Cygnus’ shoulders the fair armour’s spoil,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Retraced their way direct, and instant reach’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The city Trachys with their fleet-hoof’d steeds:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While pass’d the goddess of the azure eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To great Olympus, and her father’s towers.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But Ceyx o’er the corse of Cygnus raised</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A tomb. Innumerable people graced</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His obsequies: both they who dwelt hard by</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The city of the illustrious king, and they</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Anthe, of Iolchos wide-renown’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Arne, of the Myrmidonian towers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Helice. So gather’d there around</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A numerous people: honouring duteous thus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ceyx, beloved of the blessed gods.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But <a id="FNanchor_278" href="#Footnote_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a>the huge mount and monumental stone</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247"></a>[247]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Anaurus, foaming high with wintry rains,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swept from the sight away: Apollo this</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Commanded: for that Cygnus ambush’d spoil’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In violence the Delphic hecatombs.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h3>FOOTNOTES</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_252" href="#FNanchor_252" class="label">[252]</a> <i>In height surpass’d.</i>] Aristotle observes that persons of small -stature may be elegantly and justly formed, but cannot be styled -beautiful, Ethics, iv. 7. Xenophon in his Cyropædia, ii. 5, describes -the beautiful Panthea as “of surpassing height and -vigour.” Theocritus mentions a fulness of form as equally characteristic -of beauty:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So bloom’d the charming Helen in our eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With full voluptuous limbs and towering size:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In shape, in height, in stately presence fair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Straight as a furrow gliding from the share:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A cypress of the gardens, spiring high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A courser in the cars of Thessaly.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right">Idyl, xviii.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It is remarkable that Chaucer appears to glance at this comparison:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Winsing she was, as is a jollie colt,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Long as a maste and upright as a bolt.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><i>The Miller’s Tale.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_253" href="#FNanchor_253" class="label">[253]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6"><i>From the darkening lashes of her eyes</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>She breathed enamouring odour.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>I am satisfied -that this is to be taken in a literal, not in a metaphysical or -poetic sense. Nearly all the Greek female epithets had a reference -to some artificial mode of heightening the personal allurements: -as <i>rosy-fingered</i>; <i>rosy-elbowed</i>: I think κυανεαων, <i>black</i>, -is an epithet of the same cast: and alludes to the darkening of -the eye-lid by the rim drawn round it with a needle dipped in -antimonial oil. “The eye-lashes breathing of Venus,” has a -palpable connexion with this. Athenæus, xv. describes the several -unguents for the hair, breast, and arms, which were in use -among the Greeks, as impregnated with the odour of rose, -myrtle, or crocus. The oily dye employed by the women to -blacken their eye-brows and eye-lashes was doubtless perfumed -in the same manner. Virgil probably had in his mind the perfumed -hair of a Roman lady, when he described the tresses of -Venus breathing ambrosia, Æn. i. 402:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She spoke and turn’d: her neck averted shed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A light that glow’d ‘celestial rosy red:’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The locks that loosen’d from her temples flew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Breathing heaven’s odours, dropp’d ambrosial dew.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_254" href="#FNanchor_254" class="label">[254]</a> <i>Those herds, the cause of strife.</i>] The story commonly runs, -that the Taphians, and Teloboans, a lawless and piratical people, -had made an inroad into the territory of Argos, and carried off -Electryon’s herds: that in the pursuit a battle took place, and the -robbers killed the brothers of Alcmena: and Amphitryon himself -accidentally killed Electryon. But it should appear from -Hesiod that he killed him by design on some provocation or -dispute.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_255" href="#FNanchor_255" class="label">[255]</a> <i>The wall of Thebes.</i>] Noah was directed in express terms to -build Thiba, an ark: it is the very word made use of by the -sacred writer. Many colonies that went abroad styled themselves -Thebeans, in reference to the ark: as the memory of the -deluge was held very sacred. Hence there occur many cities of -the name of Theba, not in Ægypt only and Bœotia, but in -Cilicia, Ionia, Attica, &c. It was sometimes expressed Thiba; -a town of which name was in Pontus: it is called Thibis by -Pliny; and he mentions a notion which prevailed, that the people -of this place could not sink in water. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_256" href="#FNanchor_256" class="label">[256]</a> <i>Bull-visaged Neptune.</i>] The patriarch was esteemed the great -deity of the sea: and at the same time was represented under -the semblance of a bull, or with the head of that animal: and -as all rivers were looked upon as the children of the ocean, they -likewise were represented in the same manner. <span class="smcap">Bryant.</span></p> - -<p>This seems to have been a double emblem: referring to the -bull Apis, the representative of the father of husbandry, Osiris, -and to the roaring of waters.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_257" href="#FNanchor_257" class="label">[257]</a> <i>Mingled metal.</i>] Ηλεκτρον is not <i>amber</i>, but a mixed metal: -which Pliny describes as consisting of three parts gold, and the -fourth silver. <i>Electrum</i> is one of the materials in the Shield of -Æneas, Æn. viii.:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And mingled metals damask’d o’er with gold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Pitt.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_258" href="#FNanchor_258" class="label">[258]</a> <i>Pursuit was there.</i>] Homer, Il. vi. 5:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">She charged her shoulder with the dreadful Shield,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The shaggy Ægis, border’d thick around</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With Terror: there was Discord, Prowess there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There hot Pursuit.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There Discord raged, there Tumult, and the force</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of ruthless Destiny. She now a chief</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seiz’d newly wounded, and now captive held</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Another yet unhurt, and now a third</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dragg’d breathless through the battle by his feet:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all her garb was dappled thick with blood.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like living men they travers’d and they strove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dragg’d by turns the bodies of the slain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper</span>, book xviii. Shield of Achilles.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_259" href="#FNanchor_259" class="label">[259]</a> <i>Herds of boars.</i>] That animal (the wild boar) was no less terrible -on the opposite coast of Asia than in Greece: as we learn -from Herodotus, book i. c. 34. <span class="smcap">Gillies.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_260" href="#FNanchor_260" class="label">[260]</a> <i>The battle of the Lapithæ.</i>] This forms the subject of the -<i>alto-relievo</i> on the entablature of the Parthenon, or the temple -of Minerva: ascribed to Phidias. See the “Memorandum” on -the Elgin marbles.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_261" href="#FNanchor_261" class="label">[261]</a> <i>Some from their city.</i>] Homer, Il. book xvii. Shield of -Achilles:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The other city by two glittering hosts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Invested stood: and a dispute arose</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Between the hosts, whether to burn the town</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lay all waste, or to divide the spoil.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Meantime the citizens, still undismay’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Surrender’d not the town, but taking arms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prepared an ambush; and the wives and boys,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With all the hoary elders, kept the walls.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_262" href="#FNanchor_262" class="label">[262]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent32"><i>And near to them</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Stood Misery.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Warton observes, -History of English poetry, vol. i. p. 468: “The French and -Italian poets, whom Chaucer imitates, abound in allegorical -personages: and it is remarkable that the early poets of Greece -and Rome were fond of these creations: we have in Hesiod -‘Darkness:’ and many others; if the Shield of Hercules be of -his hand.” But it seems to have escaped the writer that it is not -literal, but figurative Darkness which is personified. Guietus -ingeniously supposes that it is meant for the dimness of death. -Homer, indeed, applies to this the same term: in the death of -Eurymachus, Od. xxii. 88:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Κατ’ οφθαλμων δ’ εχυτ’ ΑΧΛΥΣ.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A darkening mist was pour’d upon his eyes.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Tanaquil Faber, on Longinus, contends that αχλυς is here -Sorrow. Sorrow is personified in a fragment of Ennius:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Omnibus endo locis ingens apparet imago</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tristitia.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Sorrow, a giant form, uprears the head</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In every place.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This is adopted by Grævius and Robinson. In like manner -φως its opposite, light, is often used for χαρα, joy: as appears in -the oriental style of scripture. But they have omitted to notice -that this is a <i>specific</i> sorrow: for what connexion have these -horrible symptoms with sorrow in general? I conceive that the -prosopopœia describes the misery attendant on war: and especially -in a city besieged, with its usual accompaniments of famine, -blood, and tears, and the dust or ashes of mourning. Longinus -selects the line “an ichor from her nostrils flowed,” as an instance -of the false sublime; and compares it with Homer’s verse -on Discord,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Treading on earth, her forehead touches heaven.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This is to compare two things totally unlike: why should an -image of exhaustion and disease be thought to aim at sublimity? -The objection of Longinus that it tends to excite disgust rather -than terror is nugatory. The poet did not intend to excite terror, -but horror: that kind of horror which arises from the contemplation -of physical suffering.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_263" href="#FNanchor_263" class="label">[263]</a> <i>A well-tower’d city.</i>] Homer, Il. book xviii. Shield of Achilles:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Two splendid cities also there he form’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such as men build: in one were to be seen</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rites matrimonial solemnized with pomp</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of sumptuous banquets. Forth they led the brides</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each from her chamber, and along the streets</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With torches usher’d them: and with the voice</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of hymeneal song heard all around.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here striplings danced in circles to the sound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of pipe and harp; while in the portals stood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Women, admiring all the gallant show.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_264" href="#FNanchor_264" class="label">[264]</a> <i>Vaulted on steeds.</i>] This circumstance has been thought to -betray a later age: as it is alleged, that the only instance of -riding on horseback mentioned by Homer is that of Diomed, who, -with Ulysses, rides the horses of Rhesus of which he has made -prize. But though chariot-horses only are found in the Homeric -battles, there is an allusion to horsemanship, as an exhibition of -skill, in a simile of the 15th book of the Iliad, v. 679; where the -rider is described as riding four horses at once, and vaulting from -one to the other.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_265" href="#FNanchor_265" class="label">[265]</a> <i>Others as husbandmen appear’d.</i>] Homer Il. xviii. Shield of -Achilles:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He also graved on it a fallow field</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rich, spacious, and well-till’d. Plowers not few</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There driving to and fro their sturdy teams</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Labour’d the ground.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There too he form’d the likeness of a field</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Crowded with corn: in which the reapers toil’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each with a sharp-tooth’d sickle in his hand.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Along the furrow here the harvest fell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In frequent handfuls: there they bound the sheaves.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_266" href="#FNanchor_266" class="label">[266]</a> <i>In baskets thus up-piled.</i>] Homer Il. xviii. Shield of Achilles:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">There also, laden with its fruit, he form’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A vineyard all of gold: purple he made</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The clusters: and the vines supported stood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By poles of silver, set in even rows.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The trench he colour’d sable, and around</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fenced it with tin. One only path it show’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By which the gatherers, when they stripp’d the vines,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pass’d and repass’d. There youths and maidens blithe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In frails of wicker bore the luscious fruit;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While in the midst a boy on his shrill harp</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Harmonious play’d: and ever as he struck</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The chord, sang to it with a slender voice.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They smote the ground together, and with song</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sprightly reed came dancing on behind.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_267" href="#FNanchor_267" class="label">[267]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent42"><i>Hung</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The charioteers.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This may be compared -with the chariot-race at the funeral games of Patroclus, in -the Iliad, xxiii. 362, to which, however, it is very inferior.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">All raised the lash together; with the reins</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All smote their steeds, and urged them to the strife</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Vociferating: they with rapid pace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scouring the field soon left the fleet afar.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dark, like a stormy cloud, uprose the dust</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath them, and their undulating manes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Play’d in the breezes: now the level field</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With gliding course, the rugged now they pass’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With bounding wheels aloft: meantime erect</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The drivers stood: with palpitating heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each sought the prize: each urged his steeds aloud;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They, flying, fill’d with dust the darken’d air.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This description apparently suggested to Virgil the chariot-race -in the Georgics iii. 402, which Dryden has rendered with all the -fire of the original.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_268" href="#FNanchor_268" class="label">[268]</a> <i>The ocean flow’d.</i>] Homer, Il. xviii. Shield of Achilles:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Last with the might of ocean’s boundless flood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He fill’d the border of the wondrous shield.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_269" href="#FNanchor_269" class="label">[269]</a> <i>Race of the far-famed Lyngeus.</i>] Lyngeus was the ancestor -of Perseus, the son of Danaë, and the father of Alcæus: of -whom Amphitryon was the son.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_270" href="#FNanchor_270" class="label">[270]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4"><i>As rocks</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>From some high mountain-top.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Homer, Il. book xiii.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent12">Then Hector led himself</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Right on: impetuous as a rolling rock</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Destructive: torn by torrent waters off</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From its old lodgment on the mountain’s brow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It bounds, it shoots away: the crashing wood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Falls under it: impediment or check</div> - <div class="verse indent0">None stays its fury, till the level found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At last, there overcome it rolls no more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_271" href="#FNanchor_271" class="label">[271]</a> <i>He cast forth dews of blood.</i>] Iliad, xvi, 459. Death of -Sarpedon:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent12">The Sire of gods and men</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dissented not: but on the earth distill’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sanguine shower, in honour of a son</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dear to him.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_272" href="#FNanchor_272" class="label">[272]</a> <i>As in the mountain thickets.</i>] Homer, Iliad xiii.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">As in the mountains, conscious of his force,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wild boar waits a coming multitude</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of boisterous hunters to his lone retreat:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arching his bristly spine he stands: his eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beam fire: and whetting his bright tusks, he burns</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To drive not dogs alone, but men, to flight:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So stood the royal Cretan.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_273" href="#FNanchor_273" class="label">[273]</a> <i>As two grim lions.</i>] Iliad xvi.:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent18">Then contest such</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arose between them, as two lions wage</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Contending in the mountains for a deer</div> - <div class="verse indent0">New-slain: both hunger-pinched, and haughty both.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_274" href="#FNanchor_274" class="label">[274]</a> <i>As vultures curved of beak.</i>] Iliad xvi.:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent14">As two vultures fight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bow-beak’d, crook-talon’d, on some lofty rock</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clanging their plumes, so they together rush</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With dreadful cries.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_275" href="#FNanchor_275" class="label">[275]</a> <i>As falls a thunder-blasted oak.</i>] Iliad xiv.:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As when Jove’s arm omnipotent an oak</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prostrates uprooted on the plain: a fume</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rises sulphureous from the riven trunk;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So fell the might of Hector, to the earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Smitten at once. Down dropp’d his idle spear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with his helmet and his shield, himself</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Also: loud thunder’d all his gorgeous arms.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_276" href="#FNanchor_276" class="label">[276]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent16"><i>As a lion, who has fall’n</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Perchance on some stray beast.</i>]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Iliad xvii.:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But as the lion on the mountains bred</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Glorious in strength, when he hath seiz’d the best</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And fairest of the herd, with savage fangs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">First breaks the neck, then laps the bloody paunch,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Torn wide: meantime around him, but remote,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dogs stand, and huntsmen shouting, yet by fear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Repress’d, annoy him not, nor dare approach;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So these all wanted courage to oppose</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The glorious Menelaus.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_277" href="#FNanchor_277" class="label">[277]</a> <i>Stoop’d from the chariot.</i>] Iliad v.:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent12">When with determin’d fury Mars</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er yoke and bridle hurl’d his glittering spear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Minerva caught: and turning it, it pass’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hero’s chariot-side, dismiss’d in vain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_278" href="#FNanchor_278" class="label">[278]</a> <i>The huge mount and monumental stone.</i>] By the words <i>tomb</i> -and <i>monument</i>, ταφος and σημα, I understand a mount of earth -and a pillar of stone on the top of it: although Homer Il. xxiv. -v. 801, applies σημα to the mount: which he seems to describe -as raised of stones:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Χευαντες δε το σημα, παλιν κιον.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So casting up the tomb, they back return’d.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248"></a>[248]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249"></a>[249]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Appendix">Appendix.</h2> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250"></a>[250]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251"></a>[251]</span></p> - -<h3>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.</h3> - -<p>George Chapman was born in 1557. Wood, in -the Athenæ Oxonienses, imagines that he was a sworn -servant either to James the First or his queen; and -says that he was highly valued; but not so much as -Ben Jonson: “a person of most reverend aspect, -religious and temperate, qualities rarely meeting in a -poet.” After living to the age of 77 years he died -on the 12th day of May 1634, in the parish of St. -Giles’s in the Fields, and was buried there on the -south side of the church-yard. His friend Inigo -Jones erected a monument to his memory. Of his<a id="FNanchor_279" href="#Footnote_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252"></a>[252]</span>translation of Homer, Dryden tells us that Waller -used to say he never could read it without incredible -transport. Besides other translations and poems, he -was the author of 17 dramatic pieces.—See <i>Dodsley’s -Collections of Old Plays</i>, vol. iv.</p> - -<p>His version of “The Georgicks of Hesiod” is inscribed -in an <i>Epistle Dedicatorie</i> to “The most noble -Combiner of Learning and Honour Sir Francis Bacon, -Knight; Lord High Chancellor of England, &c.” -and prefixed are two copies of commendatory verses -with the signatures of Michael Drayton, and Ben -Jonson.</p> - -<p>This version is generally faithful both to the sense -and spirit of the author. Amidst much quaintness -of style and ruggedness of numbers, we meet with -gleams of a rich expression and with a grasp of language, -which, however extravagantly bold, bears the -stamp of a genuine poet. Cooke had probably not -seen this translation, or he must have avoided many -of the errors into which he fell.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253"></a>[253]</span></p> - -<h3>SPECIMENS OF CHAPMAN’S HESIOD.<br /> -<span class="smaller">WITH GLOSSARIAL AND CRITICAL EXPLANATIONS.</span></h3> - -<h4>I.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent22">Thus to him began</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Cloud-Assembler: Thou most crafty Man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That ioy’st to steale my fire, deceiuing Me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shalte feele that Ioy the greater griefe to thee;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And therein plague thy vniuersall Race:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To whom Ile giue a pleasing ill, in place</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of that good fire: And all shall be so vaine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To place their pleasure in embracing paine.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thus spake, and laught, of Gods and Men the Sire;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And straight enioyn’d the famous God of fire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To mingle instantly, with Water, Earth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The voyce, and vigor, of a humane Birth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Imposing in it; And so faire a face,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As matcht th’ Immortall Goddesses in grace:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her forme presenting a most louely Maid:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then on <i>Minerua</i> his Command he laid,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To make her worke, and wield the wittie loome:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And (for her Beauty) such as might become</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254"></a>[254]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The Golden <i>Venus</i>, He commanded Her</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Vpon her Browes and Countenance to conferre</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her own Bewitchings: stuffing all her Breast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With wilde Desires, incapable of Rest;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Cares, <a id="FNanchor_280" href="#Footnote_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> that feed to all satiety</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All human Lineaments. The Crafty spy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Messenger of Godheads, <i>Mercury</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0">He charg’d t’ informe her with a dogged Minde,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And theeuish Manners. All as he design’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was put in act. A Creature straight had frame</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like to a Virgine; Milde and full of Shame:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which Ioue’s Suggestion made the <a id="FNanchor_281" href="#Footnote_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a>both-foot lame</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forme so deceitfully; And all of Earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To forge the liuing Matter of her Birth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gray-ey’d <i>Minerua</i> Put her Girdle on;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And show’d how loose parts, wel-composed, shone.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The deified Graces, And <a id="FNanchor_282" href="#Footnote_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a>the Dame that sets</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sweet words in chiefe forme, Golden <a id="FNanchor_283" href="#Footnote_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a>Carquenets</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Embrac’d her Neck withall; the faire-haird Howers</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her gracious Temples crown’d, with fresh spring-flowers;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But all of these, imploy’d in seuerall place,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Pallas</i> gaue Order; the impulsiue grace.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255"></a>[255]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Her bosome, <i>Hermes</i>, the great God of spies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With subtle fashions fill’d; faire words and lies;</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Ioue</i> prompting still. But all the voyce she vs’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The vocall Herald of the Gods infus’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And call’d her name <i>Pandora</i>; Since on Her</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Gods did all their seuerall gifts confer:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who made her such, in euery moouing straine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To be the Bane of curious Minded Men.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>II.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When therefore first fit plow time doth disclose;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Put on with spirit; All, as one, dispose</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy Servants and thy selfe: plow wet and drie;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when <i>Aurora</i> first affords her eye</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In Spring-time turn the earth vp; which see done</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Againe, past all faile, by the Summers Sunne.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hasten thy labours, that thy crowned fields</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May load themselues to thee, and <a id="FNanchor_284" href="#Footnote_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a>rack their yeelds.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Tilth-field sowe, on Earth’s most light foundations;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Tilth-field, banisher of execrations,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pleaser of Sonnes and Daughters: which t’ improve</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With all wisht profits, pray to earthly <i>Ioue</i>,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And vertuous <i>Ceres</i>; that on all such suits</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her sacred gift bestowes, in blessing fruits.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When first thou enterst foot to plow thy land,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on thy plow-staffe’s top hast laid thy hand;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256"></a>[256]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy Oxens backs that next thee by a Chaine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy Oken draught-Tree drawe, put to the paine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy Goad imposes. And thy Boy behinde,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That with his Iron Rake thou hast design’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To hide thy seed, Let from his labour drive</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Birds, that offer on thy sweat to liue.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The best thing, that in humane Needs doth fall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is <i>Industry</i>; and <i>Sloath</i> the worst of all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With one thy Corne ears shall with fruit abound;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bow their thankfull forheads to the ground;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With th’ other, scarce thy seed again redound.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>III.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But if thou shouldst sow late, this well may be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In all thy Slacknesse an excuse for thee:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When, in the Oakes greene arms the Cuckoe sings,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And first delights Men in the louely springs;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If much raine fall, ’tis fit then to defer</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy sowing worke. But how much raine to beare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And <a id="FNanchor_285" href="#Footnote_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a>let no labour, to that Much give eare:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Past intermission let <i>Ioue</i> steepe the grasse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Three daies together, so he do not passe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An Oxes hoofe in depth; and neuer <a id="FNanchor_286" href="#Footnote_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a>stay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To strowe thy seed in: (but if deeper way</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Ioue</i> with his raine makes; then forbeare the field;)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For late sowne then will <a id="FNanchor_287" href="#Footnote_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a>past the formost yield.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257"></a>[257]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Minde well all this, nor let it fly thy powrs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To knowe what fits the white spring’s early flowrs;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor when raines timely fall: Nor when sharp colde,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In winter’s wrath, doth men from worke withholde,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sit by Smiths forges, nor warme tauernes hant;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor let the bitterest of the season dant</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy thrift-arm’d <a id="FNanchor_288" href="#Footnote_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a>paines, <a id="FNanchor_289" href="#Footnote_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a>like idle Pouertie;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For then the time is when th’ industrious <a id="FNanchor_290" href="#Footnote_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a>Thie</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Vpholdes, with all increase, his Familie:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With whose <a id="FNanchor_291" href="#Footnote_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a>rich hardness spirited, do thou</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_292" href="#Footnote_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a>Poor Delicacie flie; lest frost and snowe</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_293" href="#Footnote_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a>Fled for her loue, Hunger <a id="FNanchor_294" href="#Footnote_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a>sit both them out,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And make thee, with the beggar’s lazie gout</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sit stooping to the paine, still pointing too’t,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with a leane hand stroke a <a id="FNanchor_295" href="#Footnote_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a>foggie foot.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>IV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When aire’s chill North his noisome frosts shall blowe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All ouer earth, and all the wide sea throwe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At Heauen in hills, from colde horse-breeding Thrace;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The beaten earth, and all her Syluane race</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Roring and bellowing with his bitter strokes;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258"></a>[258]</span> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_296" href="#Footnote_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a>Plumps of thick firre-trees and high crested-Okes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Torne up in vallies; <a id="FNanchor_297" href="#Footnote_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a>all <i>Aire’s</i> floud let flie</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In him, at Earth; <a id="FNanchor_298" href="#Footnote_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> sad nurse of all that die.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wilde beasts abhor him; and run clapping close</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their sterns betwixt their thighs; and euen all those</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose hides their fleeces line with highest proofe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Euen Oxe-hides also want expulsive stuffe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bristled goates, against his bitter gale:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He blowes so colde, he beates quite through them all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Onely with silly sheep it fares not so;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For they each summer <a id="FNanchor_299" href="#Footnote_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a>fleec’t, their <a id="FNanchor_300" href="#Footnote_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a>fells so growe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_301" href="#Footnote_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a>They shield all winter crusht into his winde.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He makes the olde Man trudge for life, to finde</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shelter against him; but he cannot blast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tender and the delicately grac’t</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flesh of the virgin; she is kept within,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Close by her mother, careful of her skin:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_302" href="#Footnote_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a>Since yet she neuer knew how to enfolde</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The force of <i>Venus</i> <a id="FNanchor_303" href="#Footnote_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a>swimming all in golde.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259"></a>[259]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose Snowie bosome choicely washt and balm’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With wealthy oiles, she keepes the house becalm’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All winter’s spight; when in his fire-lesse shed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And miserable roofe still hiding head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bonelesse fish doth eat his feet for colde:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To whom the Sunne doth neuer food vnfolde;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But turnes aboue the blacke Mens populous towrs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On whom he more bestowes his radiant howres</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That on th’ <i>Hellenians</i>: then all Beasts of horne,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And smooth-brow’d, that in beds of wood are borne,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">About the Oken dales that North-winde flie,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gnashing their teeth with restlesse miserie;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And euerywhere that <a id="FNanchor_304" href="#Footnote_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a>Care solicits all,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That (<a id="FNanchor_305" href="#Footnote_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a>out of shelter) to their Couerts fall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Cauerns eaten into Rocks; and then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those wilde Beasts shrink, like tame three-footed Men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose backs are broke with age, and forheads driu’n</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To stoope to Earth, though borne to looke on Heav’n.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Euen like to these, Those tough-bred rude ones goe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flying the white drifts of the Northerne Snowe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>V.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But then betake thee to the shade that lies</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In shield of Rocks; drinke Biblian wine, and eate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The creamy wafer: Gotes milke, that the Teate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Giues newly free, and nurses Kids no more:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260"></a>[260]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Flesh of Bow-brousing Beeues, that neuer bore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tender kids. And to these, taste black wine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The third part water, of the Crystaline</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still flowing fount, that feeds a streame beneath;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sit in shades, where temperate gales may breath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On thy oppos’d cheeks. When <i>Orion’s</i> raies</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His influence, in first ascent, assaies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then to thy labouring Seruants giue command,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_306" href="#Footnote_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a>To dight the sacred gift of <i>Ceres</i> hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In some place windie, on a <a id="FNanchor_307" href="#Footnote_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a>well-planed floore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which, all by measure, into Vessels poure;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Make then thy Man-swaine, one that hath no house;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy handmaid one, that hath nor child nor spouse;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Handmaids, that children have, are rauenous.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A Mastiffe likewise, nourish still at home;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose teeth are sharp, and close as any Combe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And meat him well, to keep with stronger guard</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Day-sleep-wake-Night Man from forth thy yard:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That else thy Goods into his Caues will beare:</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_308" href="#Footnote_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a>Inne Hay and Chaffe enough for all the yeare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To serve thy Oxen and thy Mules; and then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Loose them: and ease <a id="FNanchor_309" href="#Footnote_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a>the dear knees of thy Men.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261"></a>[261]</span></p> - -<h4>VI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">If of a Chance-complaining Man at seas</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The humor take thee; when the <i>Pleiades</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hide head, and flie the fierce <i>Orion’s</i> chace,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the darke-deep <i>Oceanus</i> embrace;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then diuerse Gusts of violent winds arise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then attempt no Nauall enterprize.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But ply thy Land affaires, and draw ashore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy Ship; and fence her round with stonage store</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To shield her Ribs against the <a id="FNanchor_310" href="#Footnote_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a>humorous Gales;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her Pump exhausted, lest <i>Ioue’s</i> rainie falls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Breed putrefaction. All tooles fit for her,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all her tacklings, to thy House confer:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Contracting orderly all needfull things</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That imp a water-treading Vessel’s wings;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her well-wrought Sterne hang in the smoke at home,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Attending time, till fit Sea Seasons come.—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When thy vaine Minde then would Sea-ventures try,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_311" href="#Footnote_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a>In loue the Land-Rocks of loath’d Debt to fly,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Hunger’s euer-harsh-to-hear-of cry:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ile set before thee all the Trim and Dresse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of those still-roaring-noise-resounding Seas:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though neither skild in either Ship or Saile</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor euer was at Sea; Or, lest I faile,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262"></a>[262]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But for <i>Eubœa</i> once; from <i>Aulis</i> where</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Greeks, with Tempest driuen, for shore did stere</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their mighty Nauie, gatherd to employ</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For sacred Greece gainst faire-dame-breeding Troy.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Chalcis there I made by Sea my passe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And to the Games of great <i>Amphidamas</i>;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where many a fore-studied Exercise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was instituted with excitefull prise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For great-and-good, and able-minded Men;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And where I wonne, at the <i>Pierian</i> Pen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A three-ear’d <i>Tripod</i>, which I offer’d on</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The <i>Altars</i> of the Maids of <i>Helicon</i>.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where first their loues initiated me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In skill of their unworldly Harmony.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But no more practise have my trauailes <a id="FNanchor_312" href="#Footnote_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a>swet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In many-a-naile-composed ships; and yet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ile sing what <i>Ioue’s</i> Minde will suggest in mine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose daughters taught my verse the rage diuine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_279" href="#FNanchor_279" class="label">[279]</a> Granger, in his biographical history of England, speaks -slightingly of Chapman’s Homer on Pope’s authority. Pope singularly -explains what he considers as the defects of this translation, -by saying that “the nature of the man may account for -his whole performance: as he appears to have been of an arrogant -turn, and <i>an enthusiast in poetry</i>.” A strange disqualification! -He confesses, also, that “what very much contributed to -cover his defects, is a daring fiery spirit that animates his translation: -which is something like what one might imagine Homer -himself would have written before he arrived at years of discretion.” -<span class="smcap">Preface to Homer.</span></p> - -<p>Mr. Godwin, in his “Lives of Edward and John Philips, nephews -of Milton,” has illustrated the natural energy of style in -Chapman’s Homer with critical taste and just feeling. Chap. x. -p. 243.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_280" href="#FNanchor_280" class="label">[280]</a> Feed <i>upon</i> or emaciate the features by dissipated excess.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_281" href="#FNanchor_281" class="label">[281]</a> Vulcan.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_282" href="#FNanchor_282" class="label">[282]</a> Persuasion.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_283" href="#FNanchor_283" class="label">[283]</a> Necklaces; from Carquan, Fr. or Carcan. <i>Dict. de l’Ac. Fr.</i></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Threading a <i>carkanet</i> of pure round pearl.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right">Sir W. Davenant. The Wits, a comedy.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_284" href="#FNanchor_284" class="label">[284]</a> <i>To rack</i> here means to <i>give what is exacted</i>; yeelds is <i>yieldings</i>, produce.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_285" href="#FNanchor_285" class="label">[285]</a> Hinder.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_286" href="#FNanchor_286" class="label">[286]</a> Hesitate.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_287" href="#FNanchor_287" class="label">[287]</a> Beyond that which was sown first.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_288" href="#FNanchor_288" class="label">[288]</a> Exertions.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_289" href="#FNanchor_289" class="label">[289]</a> So much as.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_290" href="#FNanchor_290" class="label">[290]</a> The Man of Thrift. Thie in the old Saxon is thrift.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_291" href="#FNanchor_291" class="label">[291]</a> Animated with whose hardihood in braving the season for the sake of wealth.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_292" href="#FNanchor_292" class="label">[292]</a> Slothful averseness to meet the rigour of the season, of which the consequence -is poverty.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_293" href="#FNanchor_293" class="label">[293]</a> Avoided through love of delicacy; or slothful indulgence.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_294" href="#FNanchor_294" class="label">[294]</a> Remain unemployed; sit starving in idleness as long as the frost and snow -endure.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_295" href="#FNanchor_295" class="label">[295]</a> Thick, swollen.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_296" href="#FNanchor_296" class="label">[296]</a> Clusters.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_297" href="#FNanchor_297" class="label">[297]</a> The whole deluge of air being let loose in him, the (north-wind) on the surface -of earth.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_298" href="#FNanchor_298" class="label">[298]</a> In the original, <i>many-nourishing</i>. Chapman has elsewhere more faithfully -the same epithet “<i>many-a-creature-nourishing</i> earth.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_299" href="#FNanchor_299" class="label">[299]</a> Being sheared.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_300" href="#FNanchor_300" class="label">[300]</a> Skins.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_301" href="#FNanchor_301" class="label">[301]</a> They keep out the whole force of the winter, which is concentrated in his (the -winter’s) wind.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_302" href="#FNanchor_302" class="label">[302]</a> She was of too tender an age to sustain the bridal embrace.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_303" href="#FNanchor_303" class="label">[303]</a> A Grecism: swimming <i>in beauty</i>: in the Greek, <i>many-golden</i> Venus: -abounding with charms.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_304" href="#FNanchor_304" class="label">[304]</a> The care of seeking shelter.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_305" href="#FNanchor_305" class="label">[305]</a> Being in need of shelter.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_306" href="#FNanchor_306" class="label">[306]</a> To <i>dress</i>, or prepare by thrashing.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_307" href="#FNanchor_307" class="label">[307]</a> Well-smooth’d or levell’d.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_308" href="#FNanchor_308" class="label">[308]</a> Stow in.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_309" href="#FNanchor_309" class="label">[309]</a> A Grecism: <i>Dear</i> in Greek being synonymous with <i>his</i>, <i>hers</i>, <i>their</i>: and in -this instance an expletive.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_310" href="#FNanchor_310" class="label">[310]</a> Humid.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_311" href="#FNanchor_311" class="label">[311]</a> With the wish or desire.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_312" href="#FNanchor_312" class="label">[312]</a> Sweated <i>through</i>; toiled through.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<p class="titlepage">THE END.</p> - -<p class="center smaller">C. 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