>Sprung from Pirithous of immortal race, The fruit of fair Hippodamè's embrace, 3 (That day, when hurl'd from Pelion's cloudy head, To diftant dens the fhaggy Centaurs fled) 5 With Polypates join'd in equal fway Leonteus leads, and forty fhips obey. In twenty fail the bold Perrhabians came From Cyphus, Guneus was their leader's name. Yet o'er the filver furface pure they flow, 15 Styx pours them forth, the dreadful oath of Gods! .906. In twenty fail the bold Perrhæbians came.] I cannot tell whether it be worth obferving that, except Ogilby, I have not met with one tranflator who has exactly preferv'd the number of the fhips. Chapman puts eighteen under Eumelus inftead of eleven: Hobbes but twenty under Afcalaphus and Ialmen inftead of thirty, and but thirty under Menelaus instead of fixty: Valterie (the former French tranflator) has given Agapenor forty for fixty, and Nestor forty for ninety: Madam Dacier gives Nefter but eighty. I must confefs this translation not to have been quite lo exact as Ogilby's having cut off one from the number of Eumelus's fhips, and two from thofe of Guneus: Eleven and two and twenty would found but oddly in English verfe, and a poem contracts a littleness by insisting on fuch trivial niceties. Laft Laft under Protheus the Magnefians stood, Protheus the fwift, of old Tenthredon's blood Who dwell where Pelion, crown'd with piny boughs, Obfcures the glade, and nods his fhaggy brows; 920 Or where thro' flow'ry Tempè Peneus ftray'd, (The region ftretch'd beneath his mighty fhade) In forty fable barks they ftem'd the main; Such were the chiefs, and fuch the Grecian train. Say next, O Mufe! of all Achaia breeds, 925 Who bravest fought, or rein'd the noblest steeds ?... Eumelus' mares were foremost in the chace, As eagles fleet, and of Pheretian race; Bred where Pieria's fruitful fountains flow, And train'd by him who bears the filver bow. 930 Fierce in the fight: their noftrils breath'd a flame, Their height, their colour, and their age the fame; O'er fields of death they whirl the rapid car, And break the ranks, and thunder thro' the war. . 925. Or rein'd the nobleft feeds.] This coupling together the men and horfes feems odd enough, but Homer every where treats these noble animals with remarkable regard. We need - not wonder at this enquiry, which were the best horses? from ́him, who makes his horfes of heavenly extraction as well as his heroes; who makes his warriors addrefs them with speeches, and excites them by all thofe motives which affect a human breaft; who defcribes them fhedding tears of forrow, and seven capable of voice and prophecy: In most of which points Virgil has not scrupled to imitate him. Ajax in arms the firft renown acquir'd, 5 While ftern Achilles in his wrath retir'd: (His was the strength that mortal might exceeds, And his, th' unrival'd race of heav'nly steeds) But Thetis fon now fhines in arms no more; His troops, neglected on the fandy shore, 40 In empty air their sportive jav'lins throw, Or whirl the disk, or bend an idle bow: .939. His troops, &c.] The image in thefe lines of the amufements of the Myrmidons, while Achilles detain'd them from the fight, has an exquifite propriety in it. Tho' they are not in action, their very diverfions are military, and a kind of exercise of arms. The cover'd chariots and feeding horfes, make a natural part of the picture; and nothing is finer than the manly concern of the captains, who as they are fuppos'd more fenfible of glory than the foldiers, take no fhare in their diverfions, but wander forrowfully round the camp, and lament their being kept from the battel. This difference betwixt the foldiers and the leaders (as Dacier obferves) is a decorum of the highest beauty. Milton has admirably imitated this in the defcription he gives in his fecond book of the diversions of the angels during the absence of Lucifer. Part on the plain, or in the air fublime, But how nobly and judiciously has he raised the image, in proportion to the nature of thofe more exalted beings, in that which follows. Others with vaft Typhoean rage more fell Unftain'd Unftain'd with blood his cover'd chariots stand; 1 Th' immortal courfers graze along the ftrand; Now, like a deluge, cov'ring all around, Floats the wide field, and blazes to the skies. And fires Typhoeus with redoubled blows, .950. As when angry Jove.] The comparison preceding this, of a fire which runs thro' the corn and blazes to hea ven, had expreft at once the dazling of their arms and the fwiftnefs of their march. After which Homer having mention'd the found of their feet, fuperadds another fimile, which comprehends both the ideas of the brightness and the noife: for here (fays Euftathius) the earth appears to burn and groan at the fame time. Indeed the firft of thefe fimiles is fo full and fo noble, that it fcarce feem'd poffible to be exceeded by any image drawn from nature. But Homer to raise it yet higher, has gone into the marvellous, given a prodigious and fupernatural profpect, and brought down Jupiter himself, array'd in all his terrors, to discharge his lightnings and thunders on Typhaus. The Poet breaks out into this defcription with an air of enthusiasm which greatly heightens the image in general, while it seems to transport him beyond the limits of an exact comparison. And this daring manner is particular to our author above all the ancients, and to Milton above all the moderns. There Typhon preft beneath the burning load, till feels the fury of th' avenging God. But various Iris, Jove's commands to bear, But ne'er till now fuch numbers charg'd a field. In just array let ev'ry leader call/ P75 The foreign troops: This day demands them all. I The voice divine the mighty chief alarms; I The council breaks, the warriors rush to arms. |