There humbly ftopp'd with confcious shame and awe, 70 And starting from their couches loudly cry'd, : Thus I with art to move their pity try'd, Thy fleet accurs'd to leave our hallow'd land.. 1. 1 ! His 1 v. 83. Vile wretch, begone! This unhospitable character of Aolus may seem contrary to the human disposition which Homer before afcrib'd to him; he therefore tells us, that Ulyffes appear'd to him to be an object of divine vengeance, and that to give him afsistance would be to act against the will of the Gods. But, observes Enftathius, is not this an ill-chofen relation to be made to the Phaacians, as the Critics have remark'd, and might it not deter them from affifting a man whom Aolus had rejected as an enemy to the Gods? He answers, that it was evident to the Phe Acians 85 His baneful fuit pollutes these bless'd abodes, Six days and nights a doubtful course we steer, } But acians, that Ulyffes was no longer under the displeasure of Heaven, that the imprecations of Polypheme were fulfilled; he being to be transported to his own country by strangers, according to his prayer in the ninth of the Odyffey, and confequently the Phaacians have nothing to fear from the affistance which they lend Ulyffes. V. 94. The Shepherd quitting here at night the plain, &c.] This paffage has been thought to be very difficult; but Euftathius makes it intelligible: The Land of the Leftrigons was fruitful, and fit for pafturage; it was the practice to tend the theep by day, and the oxen by night; for it was infested by a kind of fly that was very grievous to the oxen by day, whereas the wool of the sheep defended them from it: and therefore the shepherds drove their oxen to pafture by night. If the same shepherd who watched the sheep by day, could pass the night without fleep, and attend the oxen, he perform'd a double duty, and confequently merited-a double reward. Homer says, that the ways of the night and day were near to each other, that is, the pastures of the sheep and oxen, and the ways that led to them were adjacent; for the shepherd that drove his flocks home, (or εἰσελάων, as Homer expresses its) could call to the herdsman, who drove his herds to pasture, or ἐξελάων, and be heard with eafe, and therefore the roads must be adjoining. Grates But he that scorns the chains of fleep to wear, } Within Crates gives us a very different interpretation: He afferts that Homer intended to express the situation of the Leftrigons, and affirms that they lay under the head of the Dragon, (Κεφαλὴν δράκοντος, which Dacier renders the tail of a Dragon) according to Aratas, -ἦχιπες (κεφαλῇ) ἄκρας' which Tully thus translates, 1 Hoc caput hic paullum sese subitoque recondit Ortus ubi atque obitus partem admifcentur in unam. If this be true, the Poet intended to express that there was scarce any night at all among the Leftrigons, according to that of Manilins, Vixque ortus, occafus erit But how will this agree with the fituation of the Leftrigons, who were undoubtedly Sicilians, according to the direct affirmation of Thucydides, lib. 6. of his History? Besides, if Laftrigonia layunder the head of the Dragon, Ulyffes must have spent seven months instead of seven days, in failing from the Aolian Islands to that country. Neither is there any neceffity to have recourse to this folation; for what fignifies the length or shortness of the day to the double wages of the shepherds, when it was paid to him who took upon him a double charge of watching the whole day and night, which comprehends the space of four and twenty hours; which alone, whether the greater part of it was by night or day, entituled the shepherd to a double reward? I therefore should ra. ther chuse the former interpretation, with which Didymus agrees. Νυκτεριναὶ, καὶ ἡμεριναὶ νομαὶ ἐΓγὺς εἰσὶ τῆς πόλεως; that is, "both "the night pastures, and those of the day, are adjagent to the aity. It Within a long recess a bay there lies, Edg'd round with cliffs, high-pointing to the skies; The jutting fhores that swell en either fide Contract its mouth, and break the rushing tide. Our It is evident that the Leftrigons also inhabited Formie, a city of Campania near Cajeta: Thus Horace, lib. 3. Ode 17. Ali vetusto nobilis ab Lamo It was alfo call'd Hormia, according to Strabo, Φορμίαι, Λακωνικός· κλίσμα, Ορμίαι λεγόμενον διὰ τὸ ἔυερμον ; that is, "Formie was. " built by a Laconian, call'd also Hormie, from its being an ex"cellent station for ships." Tuli'y had this place in view in his epistle to Atticus, lib. 2. Epift. 13. Si vero in hanc τηλέπυλον, τεFieris λαιςφυγονίην, Formias dico. And Pliny to the same' purpose, tib. 3. cap. 5. Oppidum Formia, Hormia ante dictum ut exiftimavere, antiqua Leftrigonum fedes. But how will this agree with Homer, who places them in Sicily, and Tully and Pliny in Campania in Italy? Dacier answers, that they were originally Sicilians, as appears from Pliny, lib. 3. Cap. 8. Flumina, Symathus, Terias, intus LeArigonii sampi, oppidum Leontini. And why might not these Leftrigons, or a Colony of them, leave Sicily to fettle in Italy, as it is evident the Pheacians had done, and fix'd in Corcyra? Bochart's opinion concerning this nation is not to be neglected; the words Laftrigons and Leontines are of the fame import; Leftrigon is a Phanician name, Lais tircam, that is, a devouring Lion; this is render'd literally by the Latin word Econtinum, and both denote the favage and Leonine disposition of this people: the word Lamus is also of Phanician extract: Labam, or Lahama, fignifies a Devourer; from hence probably was deriv'd that Lamia, who devour'd young infants, mention'd by Horace in his Art of Poetry. Nec pranse Lamia vivum puerum extrahat alvo. We 105 Our eager failors seize the fair retreat, And bound within the port their crowded fleet : 110 And fix'd, without, my haulfers to the shore. From thence we climb'd a point, whose airy brow We are inform'd that there was a Queen of Libya of that name, by v. 109. I only in the bay refus'd to moor.] It may appear at the When : |