The Iliad Part 80

133 "The plant she bruises with a stone, and stands Tempering the juice between her ivory hands This o'er her breast she sheds with sovereign art And bathes with gentle touch the wounded part The wound such virtue from the juice derives, At once the blood is stanch'd, the youth revives."

"Orlando Furioso," book 1.

134 --_Well might I wish._

"Would heav'n (said he) my strength and youth recall, Such as I was beneath Praeneste's wall-- Then when I made the foremost foes retire, And set whole heaps of conquer'd shields on fire; When Herilus in single fight I slew, Whom with three lives Feronia did endue."

Dryden's Virgil, viii. 742.

135 --_Sthenelus,_ a son of Capaneus, one of the Epigoni. He was one of the suitors of Helen, and is said to have been one of those who entered Troy inside the wooden horse.

136 --_Forwarn'd the horrors._ The same portent has already been mentioned. To this day, modern nations are not wholly free from this superst.i.tion.

137 --_Sevenfold city,_ Boeotian Thebes, which had seven gates.

138 --_As when the winds._

"Thus, when a black-brow'd gust begins to rise, White foam at first on the curl'd ocean fries; Then roars the main, the billows mount the skies, Till, by the fury of the storm full blown, The muddy billow o'er the clouds is thrown."

Dryden's Virgil, vii. 736.

139 "Stood Like Teneriffe or Atlas unremoved; His stature reach'd the sky."

--"Paradise Lost," iv. 986.

140 The Abantes seem to have been of Thracian origin.

141 I may, once for all, remark that Homer is most anatomically correct as to the parts of the body in which a wound would be immediately mortal.

142 --_aenus,_ a fountain almost proverbial for its coldness.

143 Compare Ta.s.so, Gier. Lib., xx. 7:

"Nuovo favor del cielo in lui niluce E 'l fa grande, et angusto oltre il costume.

Gl' empie d' honor la faccia, e vi riduce Di giovinezza il bel purpureo lume."

144 "Or deluges, descending on the plains, Sweep o'er the yellow year, destroy the pains Of lab'ring oxen, and the peasant's gains; Uproot the forest oaks, and bear away Flocks, folds, and trees, an undistinguish'd prey."

Dryden's Virgil ii. 408.

145 --_From mortal mists._

"But to n.o.bler sights Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed."

"Paradise Lost," xi. 411.

146 --_The race of those._

"A pair of coursers, born of heav'nly breed, Who from their nostrils breathed ethereal fire; Whom Circe stole from her celestial sire, By subst.i.tuting mares produced on earth, Whose wombs conceived a more than mortal birth.

Dryden's Virgil, vii. 386, sqq.

147 The belief in the existence of men of larger stature in earlier times, is by no means confined to Homer.

148 --_Such stream, i.e._ the _ichor,_ or blood of the G.o.ds.

"A stream of nect'rous humour issuing flow'd, Sanguine, such as celestial spirits may bleed."

"Paradise Lost," vi. 339.

149 This was during the wars with the t.i.tans.

150 --_Amphitryon's son,_ Hercules, born to Jove by Alcmena, the wife of Amphitryon.

151 --_aegiale_ daughter of Adrastus. The Cyclic poets (See Anthon's Lempriere, _s. v._) a.s.sert Venus incited her to infidelity, in revenge for the wound she had received from her husband.

152 --_Pherae,_ a town of Pelasgiotis, in Thessaly.

153 --_Tlepolemus,_ son of Hercules and Astyochia. Having left his native country, Argos, in consequence of the accidental murder of Liscymnius, he was commanded by an oracle to retire to Rhodes. Here he was chosen king, and accompanied the Trojan expedition. After his death, certain games were inst.i.tuted at Rhodes in his honour, the victors being rewarded with crowns of poplar.

154 These heroes' names have since pa.s.sed into a kind of proverb, designating the _oi polloi_ or mob.

155 --_Spontaneous open._

"Veil'd with his gorgeous wings, upspringing light Flew through the midst of heaven; th' angelic quires, On each hand parting, to his speed gave way Through all th' empyreal road; till at the gate Of heaven arrived, the gate self-open'd wide, On golden hinges turning."

--"Paradise Lost," v. 250.

156 "Till Morn, Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand Unbarr'd the gates of light."

--"Paradise Lost," vi, 2.

157 --_Far as a shepherd._ "With what majesty and pomp does Homer exalt his deities! He here measures the leap of the horses by the extent of the world. And who is there, that, considering the exceeding greatness of the s.p.a.ce would not with reason cry out that 'If the steeds of the deity were to take a second leap, the world would want room for it'?"--Longinus, Section 8.

158 "No trumpets, or any other instruments of sound, are used in the Homeric action itself; but the trumpet was known, and is introduced for the purpose of ill.u.s.tration as employed in war. Hence arose the value of a loud voice in a commander; Stentor was an indispensable officer... In the early Saracen campaigns frequent mention is made of the service rendered by men of uncommonly strong voices; the battle of Honain was restored by the shouts and menaces of Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed," &c.--Coleridge, p. 213.

159 "Long had the wav'ring G.o.d the war delay'd, While Greece and Troy alternate own'd his aid."

Merrick's "Tryphiodorus," vi. 761, sq.

160 --_Paeon_ seems to have been to the G.o.ds, what Podaleirius and Machaon were to the Grecian heroes.

161 --_Arisbe,_ a colony of the Mitylenaeans in Troas.

162 --_Pedasus,_ a town near Pylos.

163 --_Rich heaps of bra.s.s._ "The halls of Alkinous and Menelaus glitter with gold, copper, and electrum; while large stocks of yet unemployed metal--gold, copper, and iron are stored up in the treasure-chamber of Odysseus and other chiefs. Coined money is unknown in the Homeric age--the trade carried on being one of barter.

In reference also to the metals, it deserves to be remarked, that the Homeric descriptions universally suppose copper, and not iron, to be employed for arms, both offensive and defensive. By what process the copper was tempered and hardened, so as to serve the purpose of the warrior, we do not know; but the use of iron for these objects belongs to a later age."--Grote, vol. ii. p. 142.