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Her grief, thus fpoke foft comfort to her foul:
"Oh noble fair, recall each hafty word
"Which blind refentment utter'd: 'tis not I,
"Who o'er his eye-lids spread eternal night
"What joys it me poor mortals to deprive

:

"Of that bleft fenfe? But thus old Saturn's laws

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Firmly decree;" Whoever shall behold

"Any of heav'n's high habitants, unless

125

“By grace peculiar favour'd with the fight,

"Dread penalties await the fatal view!"

130

"'Tis past, irrevocably past: and thus

"The Parcæ fpun th' unalterable doom
"Or ere thy fon was born: thou then receive,
"Oh Euerides, this thy destiny!

Ver. 125. What joys, &c.] This, fays Spanheim, feemed very contrary to this Goddefs, who was called woofos. Lucifera, or lightbearer, according to Proclus, no lefs than Diana. See hymn to Diana, ver. 15. and to whom, under the title of Oplaλus, a temple was raifed near Sparta for preferving the eye of Lycurgus. Nay, she was named Пana and Yyea, and was faid alfo to be the inventrefs of medicine, as Porphyry witnefes, Ιατρικην απο της Αθήνας ήκειν. Whence also she was called Ewrepe." In all which the reader cannot but obferve the exact agreement between this Goddess and Apollo. See note 165, and hymn to Apollo, note 62.

Ver. 131. And thus, &c.] This was univertally the opinion of the antients, who imagined

"How

the Fates fuperior to all their Deities, as was inftanced in Neceffity, hymn to Delos, ver. 160. The ftory of Acteon, though fomewhat differently, is related at large by every mythologift. The reader will find a curious copy of a gem on this fubject in Spence's Pelymetis, plate 13. fig. 5. Mr. Spence has given the ftory at large from Ovid and Apuleius. This punishment of Tirefias and Altaon is fufficient to overthrow the obfervation made on the 194th line of the 16th book of Mr. Pope's tranflation of Homer's Odyffey, where the annotator did not confider the circumftance, which Callimachus always carefully infifts upon, the involuntary fight,

Η εθέλων.

"How many victims wou'd Autonoë give,

135

"How many Aristæus, to accept

"With lofs of fight, their hapless son Actæon?

"Him, tho' co-partner in the fylvan chace
"With great DIANA, nor that chace, nor sports
"In common fhar'd, fhall rescue from his fate :
"When naked in the Bath his luckless eyes

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Unwilling shall behold the huntress queen : "But his own dogs blood-happy shall devour

140

"Their former lord: o'er woods and wilds fhall rove

"His weeping mother to regain, fad lot!

145

"His fcatter'd bones: and thee mean time fhall call
"Thrice bleft, who from the woods thy fon, tho' blind,
"Receivest happy. Mourn not then, my friend,
"Since greater gifts, for thy dear fake, from me

Ver. 149. Since greater, &c.] Ovid fays, that Jupiter bestowed that gift upon him; Pro lumine adempto

Scire futura dedit, pænamque levavit honore. The annotators upon our author have in general applied this to the mental faculties, which are obferved for the most part to be more ftrong in perfons blind; who, all outward objects being removed, attend more closely and earnestly to the things of the mind: numberlefs inftances might be produced. In a paffage quoted by Spanheim from one of St. Jerom's Epiftles, which he wrote to comfort a perfon

"Await

that was blind -we find-" Quofdam etiam mundi philofophos, ut totam cogitationem ad mentis cogerent puritatem, fibi oculos eruiffe." Epist. 32. ad Abigaum; and in the next to this, fhewing that blindness fhould not be esteemed as arifing from any immediate fin in the perfon blind: he adds," Referes crimen in Jacob, cujus caligaverat acies, & cum interioribus oculis & fpiritu prophetali longè poft futura profpiceret, & Chriftum cerneret de ftirpe regia effe venturum, Ephraim & Manaffen videre non poterat."It must be remembred that Tirefias was always led about by his daughter, and from her or fome other attendant was doubtlefs informed

3

of

"Await thy fon: him henceforth will I make

150

"A prophet, of all others most renown'd, "As far moft excellent: he fhall difcern "Of birds the lucky or unlucky flight,

"With all their winged augury: and hence
"To Cadmus, and the fam'd Labdacidæ,
"And to Baotians fhall his foul reveal
"Many high oracles: a mighty staff

"To guide his footsteps will I also give ;
"And crown him with a plenteous length of days.

of the particular fight of the birds, whence the augury was taken, and fo delivered his oracles: the reader will find this whole matter of divipation by birds in a full and learned manner explained by Spanheim in his notes on this paffage. I fhall only juft hint, that it has feemed to many ingenious writers, that the cuftom of divining by the flights of birds took its original from fome traditions of Noah's raven and dove: which Spanheim confirms by many clear proofs and arguments; and we must remember, that Deucalion, amongst the heathens, had his dove alfo. Ver. 152. A mighty staff, &c.] Meya Baxrpor, Apollodorus tells us, that this staff was of fuch wonderful power, that it ferved him entirely in the ftead of eyes. All the augurs had their Lituus, their augural staff, or rod, clariffimum infigne auguratús, incurvum & leviter à fummo inflexum bacillum, as Cicero in his book de Divinatione defcribes it. Thefe were of mighty ufe in their divinations; and to thefe, the moft learned Spanheim well obferves, the prophet Hofea iv. 12. moft probably alludes. My people afk counsel at their flecks, and their staff declareth unto them." He fubjoins, "Unde infuper aliis, que tanquam inter Mofen ac Tirepam communia colligit vir magnus in demonftra

55

"And

tione evangelica, addi opportune illud poffet, de vaticiniis aut miraculis Mofis Baculo feu Virga in Egypto editis." That the staffs or rods used by the augurs, and fo this of Tirefias alfo, proceeded originally from the traditions concerning the rod of Mofes, can never be doubted: Homer calls the staff of Tirefias xputov oxтPOV, a golden fceptre, fee next note. And it seems probable that all the ftorie, of the fceptres, ftaffs, clubs, caducei, &c. of the heathen Deities were derived from the fame fountain of Mofes his rod: concerning which the Jewish rabbis have many wonderful and aftonishing ftories to relate: as, of its growth in Jethro's garden, Mofes his plucking it up, and performing all his miracles by means of the ineffable name Jehovah, which was upon it, &c. These are their dreams, which are to be found in any of their writings. The Caduceus of Mercury had a ferpent rolled round it, which, that it arofe from the ftory of Mofes his rod becoming a ferpent, Monfieur Huet affirms, as undoubtedly certain; fuch too was the rod of Circe. The reader may be instructed in this particular by referring to Bibliotheca Biblia, v. 2. p. 88, &c. Sceptres were a kind of ftaffs among the antients. See the account of Achilles his fceptre, in the xft Iliad.

"And when his long-fpun thread the Fates fhall cut,
"He only midst the shades fhall live infpir'd,
"And share dread Pluto's favour." Thus fhe spoke,

And speaking gave the nod: her nod is fate:
Since Jove of all his daughters this high gift

160

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When lo, the mighty Theban I behold:
To guide his steps he bore a staff of gold:
Awful he trod, majestic was his look,
And from his holy lips these accents broke.
Odyff. xi. 112.

*Milton fpeaking of himself fays,

So much the rather thou celeftial light
Shine inward, and the mind thro' all her pow'rs
Irradiate, there plant eyes.

Mr. Pope obferves on the firft lines above, That Tirefias was to be confulted by Ulyffes rather than any other ghoft, because, according to Homer,

Το τε Φρενες εμπεδοι εισι.

This expreffion is fully explained, and the notion of the foul after death, which prevailed anongst the antients, is fet in a clear light, ver. 92. and 122 of the 23d Iliad. But whence had Tirefias this privilege above the reft of the dead? Callimachus afcribes it to Minerva.

And when, &c. as in the text. v. 160. Tully mentions th's pre-eminence of Tireftas in his first book of Divination, &c. But I ought not to suppress what Diodorus Siculus relates

To

concerning Tirefias, Biblioth. 4. he tells us, that he had a daughter named Daphne, a priestefs at Delphi: " from whom it is faid, that the poet Homer received many (of the Sybils) If this be true, there lay a debt of gratitude verfes, and adorned his own poetry with them." upon Homer, and he pays it honourably by this diftinguishing character, which he gives to the Father," &c. See the note.

Ver. 164. Since Jove, &c.] Hence she is faid to fit at the right hand of Jupiter, as well as Apollo. See hymn to Apollo, notes 41, 47. Whence Ariftides, in his hymn to her, fays, Πίνδαρος δ' αν φησι, &ς, But Pindar fays, "that fhe, fitting at the right hand of the Father, receives his commands which are to be carried to

the other Gods." And again, "For the is greater than the angels; and delivers to them the different commands which the receives from her father." Which words Spanheim obferves are very like what we find in the SS. concerning the divine and only begotten Son "being made fo much better than the angels, &c. Heb. i. 4. He is also of opinion, that these opinions weretaken by Callimachus from the LXX tranflation of the Old Teftament. See his note on hymn to Apollo, ver. 29. One would rather imagine, that these general notions of Apolo's and Minerva's feffion at the right hand of their father, proceeded from far more antient tradition concerning the divine mystery of the glory of the Father and of the Son: fince we find it men tioned long before the days of Callimachus. Pindar, as you have feen above, from Ariftides fpoke of the fame thing: and Homer speaks of the joint power of Jupiter and Minerva in Odys. п. ver. 264. Sophocles addreffes her as the first in power,

ΠΡΩΤΑ

TO PALLAS only granted, that his pow'r,

Even all her father's glories fhe might bear. No mother bore the Goddefs: but the head

165

of

ΠΡΩΤΑ σε κεκλόμενος, &c.

OED. Tyr. ver. 163.

And Horace fpeaks of this as a well known article in the heathen creed,

Proximos illi tamen occupavit

Pallas honores.

Lib. I. ODE 12.

And Apollo and Minerva both fhared the fame honours, and were both equal in glory, because they were both reprefentatives of the fame thing, the folar light; which, as has been often obferved, being the emblem of the divine Son of God, the heathens affigned his honours to thefe natural emblems: and having fome traditions of the true and divine light, forgot him, while they applied their traditions to the material light. The expreffion which Callimachus ufes, Пarpwiα warra Orpiodas, to bear all her father's honours, is remarkably fcriptural: all things that the Father hath are mine, fays the Son of God, John xvi. 15. And as the poet fays, that Jupiter Awxsv Abavara, gave to Minerva warpara παντα, fo the Son of God fays, " for as the Father hath life in himself, fo hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment alfo, because he is the Son of man, John v. 26. and, all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them, John xvii. 1c." agreeable to which Arif t des fays of Minerva, So alfo fhe is venerable in the fight of the father, and made partaker of all things with him, warra xexwxnxE." And the fame antient writer tells us, that he was called the Auraus TH Aios, the power of Jupiter; and that the works of Jupiter were faid, Konz το Διος είναι και της Αθήνας, to be the common works of Jupiter and Minerva; which, as Spanheim conceives, may be referred to the myftery in the New Testament, imperfectly known by antient traditions; and when the true light was deferted by idolaters, thefe honours, peculiar to

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him, were impiously transferred to the creature; the material light, which St. Paul affures us was worshipped more than the Creator, namely Chrift, the true light, who is bleffed for ever and ever, Amen. Rom. i. 25. John i. 3. Spanheim observes in the conclufion of his note on this paffage, Mitto quod ficut adducto paulo ante loco, Ariftides Minervam Jovis parentis Aurau vocat: ita ab impio Ario unigenitus Dei Filius ejus Avrapię mar Zopia, fed non oporcios, feu eidem coeternus, ftatueretur, juxta Athanafium." In 1 Cor. i. 24. Chrift is called the power of God, and the wij dom of God: the Holy Ghoft is called alfo, the power of the Moft High, Luke i. 35. nay, and Chrift himself faith, Hercafter fhall ye fee the Son of Man fitting on the right hand of POWER, and coming in the clouds of heaven." Matt. xxvi. 64. where cannot be meant either Himself or the Holy Ghost, but the Father, as it is faid elsewhere, Sit thou on my right hand, Pfalm cx. So that we fee each perfon in the Trinity is called Auraps, Power, wherefore we must conclude against Arius, and all his followers, that they are all equal in power: fince to all without any limitation the fame name is given. As to Chrift's cocflentiality, he declareth it in St. John as fully and clearly as words can do it, o peroγενής υιός, Ο ΩΝ εις τον κόλπον τε πατρος, John i. 18. And whofoever will confider the nature of the light which thefe heathens deified, and which is the fcripture emblem of Chrift the Power and Glory of God, he will not longer doubt of his coeffentiality or coeternity with the Father. See profeffor Franck's Chriftus S. Scripturæ nucleus, or Chrifi the fum and fubftance of all the holy Scriptures, &c. rendered into English, p. 46, a book deferving the attention of every chriftian, and excellently calculated for the conviction of every one, who doubts or difbelieves that fundamental article of Christianity, the true and effential divinity of Jefus Chrift,

Ver. 167. No mother, &c.] The poet goes on to account for this peculiar honour which

was

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