the Oban district of Argyllshire, famous in ancient times for its fair That is, according to Apion and Strabo (x. 613), god of mice, or god that protects from rats and mice (Apoll. Lex. Hom. and E. M. in voce Zpuivocús, Clem. Al. Prot. II. 34 г). So Jupiter was called áróvtos in Olympia, from having pro- tected Hercules from these troublesome animals when performing sacrifices to him on the banks of the Alpheus (Paus. v. 14. 2). For a similar reason Baal was worshipped, with the addition of Zebub (2 Kings i. 2), that is, god of flies (Gesen. 53. 5). Quite analogous are the epithets ερυθίβιος and παρνοπίων given to Apollo (Str. x. 613). The extraordinary fecundity of field-mice (hence perhaps this animal Priapean, Payne Knight, Symbol, 128), and the ravages often made by them on the hopes of the farmer, country about Troy in ancient times seems to have been peculiarly exposed to their depredations (Pliny, N. H. x. 65). Strabo (XIII. 604 and 18) informs us that the name Smintheus was not confined to one district of the Troad, but was of very general use in various parts of Asia Minor; and that in the town of Chrysa, near Troy, there was a temple of the Sminthian Apollo, in which the significance of the epithet was made manifest to the eye by a mouse sculptured, beneath the foot of the statue of the god; and in the coins of Alexandria, in the Troad, a similar emblem occurs. It is noticeable that the geographer, on occasion of this Sminthian Apollo, narrates a story of a troop of field-mice having in a single night devoured all the leather of the arms of the Cretan settlers in the Troad, a narrative which recalls the curious history in Herodotus (11. 141). Welcker, to whose paragraph on this subject (g. l. i. p. 482) I am largely indebted, mentions that in the very dry summer of 1821, in Germany, he himself saw the people in the neighbourhood of Bonn kneeling before a crucifix in the metropolitan church, and praying fervently, O Lord, destroy the mice! destroy the mice! In Klausen's Æneas und die Pen. (i. 557) will be found a curious church formula used in the middle ages for exorcising the Norway rats, whose ravages are well known. The temple of Apollo Smintheus has, I find in my interleaved Homer, recently been discovered by Spratt, but I cannot give the exact reference. VER. 50.-The nimble dogs. The scholiasts, who have seldom any judgment, say άpyovs = Taxeîs or devkoús; but common sense, one should think, might in this passage have preserved Köp. and Br. from following Eust. in choosing the latter rendering for this passage. Unquestionably "white" is the common meaning of the root apyós, as it appears in many words both Greek and Latin (Curt. 121). But here we have manifestly a different word, which may indeed by a little ingenuity be traced to the same root (see Passow, and after him L. and S.), but for practical purposes stands distinct. Passow's idea might be expressed by the word flickering-footed, as "mico" in Latin signifies both to more quickly and to twinkle brightly. Whether Passow is right in his ingenious attempt to unite the two ideas of swift and white in the common notion of a bright flickering motion, may remain doubtful. VER. 63.-Or one that readeth dreams. Not only in Homer's time, but in the middle ages (see King Arthur, c. 7), and even in ages of grave history, we find the soothsayer and dream-reader persons of no small importance in public life. Alexander the Great always carried one about with him in his camp, of whom Arrian reports that, being present at the circumscription of the boundary line of Alexandria, he prophesied the future prosperity of the town from a remarkable incident (Anab. III. 2). As to the special method of arriving at a knowledge of futurity through means of dreams, this was universally practised by the ancients (Num. xii. 6; 1 Sam. xxviii. 6; Tuch on Genesis xv. 1; Ewald, Ges. des Is. Volks, i. p. 121; Herm., Rel. Alt. 41, 2-22). It was, however, never regarded as of equal authority with a distinct declaration of the Divine will by an oracle (compare Numbers xii. 6, 7). As to the source of dreams, they could only come from Jove, as the supreme moral governor of the world. He accordingly sends the dream in the beginning of the next book of this poem; and in perfect consistency with this we find that the function of prophecy and divination which afterwards became more peculiarly characteristic of Apollo was exercised by him only through delegation from his all-wise father (Æsch. Eum. 19). VER. 66.-Sheep and goats full grown and fair, tedeiwv, i.e., perfect; that is, complete in respect of age, growth, parts, and proportions, as in the offerings of the Old Testament. The Schol. Ven. Lips. says, ἡλικίᾳ ὁλοκλήρων, λελωβημένον γὰρ οὐ θύεται. VER. 69.-Calchas the son of Thestor. It is remarkable that this famous soothsayer, whose interpretation of the wrath of Apollo is the cause of the plot of the Iliad, appears nowhere else in the action, and is only incidentally mentioned in one or two places. The part he played at Aulis (11. 300) supplied good materials to the tragedians, but does not belong to the action of the Iliad. He was a native of Megara, or at least was dwelling there at the time when the Trojan expedition set out (Paus. 1. 43). After the war was ended, he did not return to Troy along with the other Greeks, but found his way on foot to the great shrine of his inspiring god at Claros, near Colophon, where he died. Strange and significant stories were told of his death (Str. XIV. 642), which have lately been made to bud out into new life in the garden of English poetry, by the graceful and versatile genius of Sir E. Bulwer Lytton (Lost Tales of Miletus, 1866): VER. 73.—He with a friendly mien uprose. This is one of the commonplaces of Homer, whenever a speaker is not particularly passionate or excited, in which case his phrase is péy ox@noras, or somewhat to that effect. C. has here "inμέγ' ὀχθήσας, telligent;" and Nits. (Od. II. 160) says that eppovéov in the frequently recurring formula, signifies the "wise recognition of what is to be done in the existing emergency." Now, there is no doubt that the phrase ev opoveîv has frequently this meaning, as in Ar. Ran. 1485, where it is equivalent to ovverós; but in Homer, I agree with Näg. and W., that the formula should generally be interpreted of that kindly tone and persuasive manner which is the best recommendation of every public speaker. VER. 80.-Strong is a king. The word Bartleùs (bn), afterwards applied to all foreign despotic monarchs, is with Homer a designation of the highest chiefs or thanes of any country, or district of a country; for even in the little rocky Ithaca there are many "kings" (Od. 1. 394.) Compare Genesis xiv. 10. Not all the chiefs, however, were entitled to this title (Glad. iii. p. 25). The common title, "king of men," by which Agamemnon is known to English readers, is not a translation of Barides, but of åvaέ, a word signifying lord, or ruler, and con nected with áváooo, as the Latin dominus is with dominor. The Sanscrit Narpati exactly corresponds. In XXIII. 517 Drb. is wrong in translating ävakтa royal. It is merely the master or lord of the car. VER. 98. The maid with quick and glancing eyes. 'Elikóπida koúpηv, "black-eyed." Ch., P., Br., "dark-eyed." Soth., Wr., the "maid of glancing eye." N., the "curl-eyed maid." V., "freudig-blickend." D., "das Kind mit den leuchtenden Augen." The Lat. have all "nigros oculos habens." So, infra 389, of all the Greeks, ἑλίκωπες Αχαιοί. The ancients speak doubtfully about this word; but the weight of their authority is in favour of 'black-eyed." But the more scientific philologers of the present century have seen reason to reject this tradition. The point stands thus:-There is no vestige of a trace, beyond an unguaranteed assertion of one of the scholiasts, that the root λik, or ëλɩ, means black. On the other hand, we have a well-recognised family of words in the Arian languages, containing volvo in Latin, wheel in English, welt in German, and in Greek, ïλλw, éλíoσw, ëdig, expressing the idea of a quick rotatory, or at least irregular curved motion. That KOTIS belongs to this same family is the natural inference, if the etymon yields a good sense, and if there is no authority to the contrary. Now, as the compound adjective λtkóppoos applied to a stream, signifies almost the same as dives, that is, full of wreathed swirls and eddies, so Ediкŵπis, applied to the eyes, yields the natural and expressive sense of easily-rolling, quick-moving, rapid-glancing, -generally, lively, keen, and bright eyes, as opposed to eyes with a fixed, dull, heavy stare. (See Spencer's Circassia, ii. p. 243, on the singular animation of the Circassian eye.) In a certain sense of the word, "rolling eyes," indeed, belong only to mad or vacantminded people; but, in another sense, an easy wreathed volubility of motion in the eyes is certainly a beauty. However, I should not wish to incur the responsibility of translating Atк&is "rolling eye," as the expression is not free from ludicrous associations; but that "a rolling eye" of a certain kind is popularly considered a |