IDYLLIUM VI. Page 30, line 1. Late, herdsman Daphnis and Damætas fed ARATUS, author of an astronomical poem, entitled Phænomena-the poet whom St. Paul quotes in the Acts of the Apostles. P. 31, l. 3. He, on the lucid wave his form surveys; And, on the beach, his dancing shadow bays. Reiske seems so fond of emendation, that éven the most unexceptionable passages are frequently the subjects of his conjectural criticism. He would change in this place, Pavel into gaivel, and make the waters sprinkle the sheep-dog, instead of reflecting his image. His conjectures are often ingenious, but seldom probable. Mr. Warton hath here too committed a mistake, such as must be obvious to every reader whose head hath not been previously clouded with commentaries. He mistakes the dog for the nymph Galatea. The shepherd's dog runs along the shore barking at his own shadow: Galatea is yet in the water. P. 31, l. 13. The king's in check! The original, allusive probably to the game of chess, appears to be a proverbial saying, expressing a false step; or a situation not warranted by the rules of prudence or propriety. Ꮓ 'She moves her king (Alov) from his proper place, or from the line (año yeaμμas) into check,' contrary to the rules of chess. In other words, 'Galatea, blinded by passion, flies her lover, and follows her scorner'- -a false move in the game of love. IDYLLIUM VII. THE Idyllium before us is entitled Oaλvoia, Expiry Odoogia, commonly translated Thalysia, or the Vernal Journey; though the Thalysia were celebrated in autumn. But Οδοιπορια signifies a Navigation or Voyage. This poem, therefore, may be styled 'The Vernal Voyage of Ageanax.' Heinsius. Page 32, line 5. There Lycops' sons their harvest offering paid. In the Grecian villages, and among the Bulgarians, they still observe the feast of Ceres. When harvest is almost ripe, they go dancing to the sound of the lyre, and visit the fields, whence they return with their heads ornamented with wheat ears, interwoven with the hair. P. 32, 1. 7. See M. Guys. Great Lycops' generous sons-if any good Flow down, transmitted with illustrious blood! If that turn of imagination—those infirmities of intellect, which mark insanity or delirium, or folly, are so often confessed to be hereditary, shall we not allow to all the endowments and talents of the mind the same prerogative? the great qualities of the last Athenian king flourished in the Archons for above three hundred years. The Incas of Peru, during a far longer period, were eminent for every princely virtue. The daughter of Scipio was mother of the Gracchi. The heroism of the younger Brutus was the heroism of his remote progenitor. The houses of the Messalæ, the Publicolæ, and Valerii, were illustrious for six hundred years. The Decii, retaining equally long their primeval character, attempted the revival of Roman virtue in the decline of the empire.' See Dunbar on Hereditary Genius. P. 32, 1. 9. From Clytia's and from Chalcon's line they came. Clytia was the daughter of Merops, wife of Euripylus, king of Cos, and mother of Chalcon. See Hom. II. b. 1. P. 33, l. 17. Where-where, my friend Simichidas, so fast Theocritus, in his poem called Syrinx, claims to himself this appellation of Simichidas, Пapis θετο Σιμιχίδας, &c. Paris and Theocritus are the same for Paris, as judge of the beauty of the three goddesses, was Theocritus, Oεw KρITY: thus Paris, metaleptically, is taken for Theocritus. Heinsius. P. 33, 1. 23, Struck by thy hurrying clogs, the pebbles leap! Αρβυλιδεσσιν-Αρβυλις was a kind of wooden shoe, armed with iron nails. It was used to tread grapes in the wine press. P. 33, 1. 31. To bless the fair-veil'd goddess, Mr. Hole, in his notes to his very elegant translation of Homer's Hymn to Ceres, remarks, 'that Ceres was said to have worn a black veil by the Grecian poets, either as a sign of sorrow for the loss of Proserpine, or to conceal her grief from observation.' And it was used as an ornamental part of dress, richly embroidered and transparent, in very early ages. Homer describes, in his Iliad, a beautiful one offered by the Trojan matrons, at the altar of Minerva. And Penelope's is thus described in Pope's Odyssey: A veil translucent, o'er her brow display'd, Her beauty seems, and only seems, to shade. 'We find Rebecca makes use of one, on being informed that Isaac was approaching to meet her. When Judah meets Thamar, she is described as covering herself with a veil. This phrase is rather remarkable, as Judah, on that account, possibly, supposed her to be a courtesan; and it is said, that slaves formerly, in Greece, wore larger veils than other people. Euripides makes Andromache complain, in his play of that name, 'I was conducted from my husband's bed to the strand, my face covered with the veil of a captive.' It is well known, that the veil of female slaves in the Levant, at present, covers the whole body; and that the Greeks have been more tenacious of their old customs than most other nations. The use of the veil (says M. Guys) is very old. The veil of the Grecian ladies of modern times is muslin fringed with gold; and (as formerly) that of the mistress and the maid, the free woman and the slave, are all different. P. 34, l. 6. Philetas or Sicelidas, in vain! Both these names occur in Moschus's third Idyllium. Sicelidas (or Asclepiades) was a Samian poet-Philetas was of Cos. P. 34, l. 16. The Muse-cocks, who the Chian bird defy. In this manner Horace styles Varius the cock of the Mæonian song: Scriberis Vario fortis, et hostium Victor Mæonii carminis alite. P. 34, 1. 20. The strains I lately labour'd, on the hill. Whether the common reading ought to be retained-εv ope, on a mountain, or that of Heinsius and others- age, in the spring, be preferable, is a question on which pages of verbal criticism might still be wasted, as they have already been. After all the learned argumentations of Heinsius, Mr. Warton hath more satisfactorily supported the common reading. See vol. ii. p. 87. |