There humbly topp'd with confeious fhame and awe, Nor nearer than the gate prefum'd to draw. But foon his fons their well-known guest descry'd,' At length these words with accent low return'd. Thus I with art to move their pity try'd, And touch'd the Youths; but their stern Sire reply'd, His v. 83. Vile wretchy begone! - This unhofpitable character of colus may feem contrary to the human difpofition 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 affiftance would be to act against the will of the Gods. But, obferves Euftathius, 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 Eolas had rejected as an enemy to the Gods? He answers, that it was evident to the Phe scians 85 His baneful fuit pollutes thefe blefs'd abodes, The failors spent with toils their folly mourn, 90 But mourn in vain; no prospect of return. Six days and nights a doubtful courfe we fteer, The fhepherd quitting here at night the plain, 95 Calls, to fucceed his cares, the watchful fwain; } But acians, that Ulyffes was no longer under the difpleasure of Heaven, that the imprecations of Polypheme were fulfilled; he being to be tranfported to his own country by ftrangers, according to his prayer in the ninth of the Odyffey, and confequently the Phaacians have nothing to fear from the affiftance which they lend Ulysses. 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 infefted by a kind of fly that was very grievous to the oxen by day, whereas the wool of the fheep defended them from it: and therefore the shepherds drove their oxen to pafture by night. If the fame shepherd who watched the Theep 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 fays, that the ways of the night and day were near to each other, that is, the paftures of the fheep and oxen, and the ways that led to them were adjacent; for the shepherd that drove his flocks home, (or tiondov, as Homer expreffes it) could call to the herdfman, who drove his herds to pafture, or endov, and be heard with eafe, and therefore the roads must be adjoining Crates But he that fcorns the chains of sleep to wear,' } Within Crates gives us a very different interpretation: He afferts that Homer intended to exprefs the fituation of the Leftrigons, and affirms that they lay under the head of the Dragon, (Kepaλv Spexovros, which Dacier renders the tail of a Dragon) according to Arates, ἧχιπες (κεφαλῇ) ἄκρας Μίσγονται δύσιες, καὶ ανατολαὶ ἀλλήλησιν. which Tully thus translates, Hoc caput hit paullum fefe fubitoque recondit Ortus ubi atque obitus partem admifcentur in unam. If this be true, the Poet intended to exprefs that there was fcarce any night at all among the Leftrigons, according to that of Manilius, Vixque ortas, occafus eritTM But how will this agree with the fituation of the Laftrigons, who were undoubtedly Sicilians, according to the direct affirmation of Thucydides, lib. 6. of his Hiftory? Befides, if Leftrigonia lay under the head of the Dragon, Ulyffes muft have fpent feven months instead of seven days, in failing from the Eolian Islands to that country. Neither is there any neceffity to have recourfe to this folution; for what fignifies the length or fhortness of the day to the double wages of the fhepherds, 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 fhepherd to a double reward? I therefore fhould ra ther chufe the former interpretation, with which Didymus agrees. Νυκτεριναί, καὶ ἡμεριναὶ νομαὶ ἔἴγὺς εἰσὶ τῆς πόλεως; that is, both "the night paftures, and thofe of the day, are adjacent to the avity. 魏 Within a long recefs a bay there lies, Edg'd round with cliffs, high-pointing to the skies; The jutting fhores that fwell en either fide Contract its mouth, and break the rushing tide. Our It is evident that the Leftrigons alfo inhabited Formia, a city of Campania near Cajeta: Thus Horace, lib. 3. Ode 17. Eli vetufto nobilis ab Lame- Auctore ab illo ducit originem It was alfo call'd Hormia, according to Strabo, Popuíai, Danavındy κλίσμα, Ορμίαι λεγόμενον διὰ τὸ ἔυερμον ; that is, Fermie was se built by a Laconian, call'd alfo Hormia, from its being an ex"cellent ftation for fhips." Tully had this place in view in his epiftle to Atticus, lib. 2. Epift. 13. Si vero in hanc tuλśπudov, veneris naispuyoviny, Formias dico. And Pliny to the fame' purpose, lib. 3. cap. 5. Oppidum Formia, Hormia ante dictum ut exiftimavêre, antiqua Leftrigonum fedes. But how will this agree with Homer, who places them in Sicily, and Tully and Pliny in Campania in Italy? Dacier anfwers, that they were originally Sicilians, as appears from Pliny, lib. 3. Cap. 8. Flumina, Symatkus, Terias, intus La frigonii campi, oppidum Leontini. And why might not thefe Lefirigons, or a Colony of them, leave Sicily to fettle in Italy, as it is evident the Phracians 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 der'd literally by the Latin word Leontinum, and both denote the favage and Leonine difpofition of this people: the word Lamus is alfo 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 pranfa Lamia vivum puerum extrahat alus. ren We 105 Our eager failors feize the fair retreat, And bound within the port their crowded fleet : And fmiling calmnefs filver'd o'er the deep. I only in the bay refus'd to moor, 110 And fix'd, without, my haulfers to the fhore. From thence we climb'd a point, whofe airy brow With speed to learn what men poffefs'd the land. We are inform'd that there was a Queen of Libya of that name, by Diodorus Siculus; she was a person of great beauty, but of great barbarity. v. 109. I only in the bay refus'd to moor.] It may appear at the first view, that Ulyffes took more care of himself than of his companions; and it may be ask'd, why did he not reftrain them from entring the bay, when his caution plainly fhews that he was apprehenfive of danger? had he more fear than the reft of the company? No; but a greater forefight; a wife man provides as far as lies within his power againft all contingencies, and the event fhews, that his companions were rash, and he wife to act with fo much circumfpection; they ftaid not for command, and therefore were juftly punished for acting precipitately without the direction of their General and King. When |