Obrazy na stronie
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(Fair Caflianira, nymph of form divine,

This offspring added to King Priam's line.)

As full blown poppies overcharg'd with rain
Decline the head, and drooping kiss the plain;

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wafts the arrow afide from him: The poet does not tell us that this was done by the hand of a God, 'till the arrow of Teucer came Lo near Hector as to kill his charioteer, which made fome fuch contrivance neceffary.

V. 371. As full-blown poppies.] This fimile is very beautiful, and exactly reprefents the manner of Gorgythion's death: There is fuch a sweetness in the comparison, that it makes us pity the youth's fall, and almost feel his wound. Virgil has applied it to the death of Euryalus.

-Inque humeros cervix collapsa recumbit :
Purpureus veluti cùm flos fuccifus aratro
Languefcit moriens; laffove papavera collo
Demifere caput, pluviâ cùm fortè gravantur.

This is finely improv'd by the Roman author, with the particulars of fuccifus aratro, and laffo collo. But it may on the other hand be obferv'd in the favour of Homer, that the circumftance of the head being opprefs'd and weigh'd down by the helmet, is fo remarkably juft, that it is a wonder Virgil omitted it; and the rather because he had particularly taken notice before, that it was the helmet of Euryalus which occafioned the difcovery and unfortunate death of this young hero and his friend..

One may take a general obfervation, that Homer in thofe comparifons that breath an air of tenderness, is very exact, and adapts them in every point to the fubject which he is to illuftrate: But in other comparifons, where he is to inspire the foul with fublime fentiments, he gives a loofe to his fancy, and does not regard whether the images exactly correfpond. I take the reafon of it to be this: In the first, the copy must be like the original to cause it to affect us; the glafs needs only to return the real image to make it beautiful whereas in the other, a fucceffion of noble ideas will caufe the like fentiments in the foul; and tho' the glass should inlarge the image, it only frikes us with fuch thoughts as the Poet intended to raile, fublime and great.

So

So finks the youth: His beauteous head, depreft
Beneath his helmet, drops upon his breast.

Another shaft the raging archer drew;

That other fhaft with erring fury flew,

(From Hector Phœbus turn'd the flying wound) Yet fell not dry or guiltless to the ground:

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Thy breast, brave Archeptolemus! it tore,

And dipp'd its feathers in no vulgar gore.

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Headlong he falls: his fudden fall alarms
The steeds that startle at his founding arms.
Hector with grief his charioteer beheld,
All pale and breathlefs on the fanguine field.

Then bids Cebriones direct the rein,

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Quits his bright car, and ifïues on the plain.

Dreadful he fhouts: From earth a ftone he took,
And rufh'd on Teucer with the lifted rock.

The youth already ftrain'd the forceful yew;

The shaft already to his fhoulder drew;
The feather in his hand, juft wing'd for flight,
Touch'd where the neck and hollow chest unite;
There, where the juncture knits the channel bone,
The furious chief difcharg'd the craggy ftone:
The bow-ftring burst beneath the pond'rous blow,
And his numb'd hand difmifs'd his ufelefs bow.
He fell But Ajax his broad fhield difplay'd,
And screen'd his brother with a mighty shade;

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'Till great Alaftor, and Meciftheus, bore

The batter'd archer groaning to the shore.

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Troy yet found grace before th' Olympian Sire,

He arm'd their hands, and fill'd their breafts with fire.
The Greeks, repuls'd, retreat behind their wall.

Or in the trench on heaps confus'dly fall.

First of the foe great Hector march'd along,

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With terror cloath'd, and more than mortal firong.

As the bold hound, that gives the lion chace,

With beating bofom, and with eager pace,
Hangs on his haunch, or faftens on his heels,
Guards as he turns, and circles as he wheels:

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Thus oft' the Grecians turn'd, but ftill they flew ;

Thus following Hector ftill the hindmost flew.
When flying they had pafs'd the trench profound,
And many a chief lay gasping on the ground;

V. 407. As the bold bound that gives the lion chace.] This fimile is the jufteft imaginable; and gives the most lively picture of the manner in which the Grecians fled, and Hector purfued them. ftill flaughtering the hindmoft. Gratius and Oppian have given us particular defcriptions of thofe fort of dogs, of prodigious ftrength and fize, which were emplowed to hunt and tear down wild beafts. To one of these fierce animals he compares Hector, and one cannot but obferve his care not to difgrace his Grecian countrymen by an unworthy comparison: Though he is obliged to reprefent them flying, he makes them fly like lions; and as they fly, turn frequently back upon their pursuer: fo that it is hard to fay, if they, or he, be in the greater danger. On the contrary, when any of the Grecian heroes pursue the Trojans, it is he that is the lion, and the flyers are but sheep or trembling deer.

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Before the ships a defp'rate ftand they made,
And fir'd the troops, and call'd the Gods to aid.
Fierce on his rattling chariot Hector came;
His eyes like Gorgon fhot a fanguine flame
That wither'd all their host: Like Mars he flood,
Dire as the monster, dreadful as the God!
Their ftrong distress the wife of Jove furvey'd;
Then penfive thus, to War's triumphant maid.
Oh daughter of that God, whofe arm can wield
Th' avenging bolt, and shake the fable shield!
Now, in this moment of her laft despair,
Shall wretched Greece no more confess our care,
Condemn'd to suffer the full force of Fate,
And drain the dregs of heav'n's relentless hate ;
Gods! fhall one raging hand thus level all?
What numbers fell? what numbers yet fhall fall?
What pow'r divine fhall Hector's wrath affuage?

Still fwells the flaughter, and ftill grows the rage!

So fpake th' imperial regent of the skies;

To whom the Goddess with the azure eyes:

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Long fince had Hector ftain'd these fields with gore, 435
Stretch'd by fome Argive on his native shore;

But He above, the Sire of heav'n withstands,
Mocks our attempts, and flights our just demands.

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a Hercules:

The stubborn God, inflexible and hard,
Forgets my service and deferv'd reward:
Sav'd I, for this, his fav'rite a fon diftrefs'd,
By ftern Euriftheus with long labours press'd?
He begg'd, with tears he begg'd, in deep dismay;
I fhot from heav'n, and gave his arm the day.
Oh had my wisdom known this dire event,
When to grim Pluto's gloomy gates he went;
The tripple dog had never felt his chain,

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Nor Styx been crofs'd, nor hell explor'd in vain.
Averfe to me of all his heav'n of Gods,
At Thetis fuit the partial Thund'rer nods.

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To grace her gloomy, fierce, refenting fon,

My hopes are fruftrate, and my Greeks undone.
Some future day, perhaps he may be mov'd

To call his blue ey'd maid his best belov'd.

Hafte, launch thy chariot, thro' yon' ranks to ride; 455 Myfelf will arm, and thunder at thy fide.

V. 439. The ftubborn God, inflexible, and hard] It must be owned that this fpeech of Minerva against Jupiter fhocks the Allegory more than perhaps any in the poem. Unless the Deities may fometimes be thought to men no more than Beings that prefided over thofe parts of nature, or thofe paffions and faculties of the mind. Thus as Venus fuggefts unlawful as well as lawful defires, fo Minerva may be defcribed as the Goddefs not only of Wisdom but of Craft: that is, both of true and falfe Wisdom. So the moral of Minerva's Speaking rafhly of Jupiter, may be, that the wifest of finite Beings is liable to paffion and indifcretion, as the commentators have already obferved.

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