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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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