Struck at the word, my very heart was dead: Tully mentions this preheminence of Tirefias in his first book of Divination. Perhaps the whole fiction may arife from his greas reputation among the Antients for Prophecy; and in honour to his memory they might imagine that his foul after death retain'd the fame fuperiority. Ovid in his Metamorphofes gives us a very jocular reafon, for the blindnefs and prophetic knowledge of Tires fias, from a matrimonial conteft between Jupiter and Funo. Cate Major, as Plutarch in his Political Precepts informs us, apply'd this verfe to Scipio, when he was made Conful contrary to the Roman Statutes. Οιὸς πέπνυται, τοὶ δὲ σκιαὶ αἴσσεσιν. But I ought not to fupprefs what Diodorus Siculus relates con cerning Tirefias. Biblioth. lib. 4. he tells us, that he had a daugh", ter nam'd Daphne, a Priestess at Delphi. Tap is qari nai Toy momτὴν Ὅμηρον πολλὰ τῶν ἐπῶν σφετρισάμενον, κοσμῆσαι τὴν ἰδίαν ποίησιν, That is," From whom it is faid, that the Poet Homer received "many (of the Sibyls) verses, and adorn'd his own Poetry with "them." If this be true, there lay a debt of gratitude upon Homer, and he pays it honourably, by this diftinguishing chara&er, which he gives to the father. An inftance of a worthy difpofition in the Poet, and it remains at once an honour to Tirefias, and a monument of his own gratitude. This defcent of Ulyffes into Hell has a very happy effect, it -gives Homer an opportunity to embellish his Poetry with an admirable variery, and to infert Fables and Hiftories that at once inftru&t and delight. It is particularly happy with refpect to the Phencians, who could not but highly admire a person whose wifdom had not only deliver'd him from fo many perils on earth, but had been permitted by the Gods to fee the regions of the dead, and return among the living: this relation could not fail of pleafing an audience, delighted with ftrange ftories, and extraordinary adventures. How fhall I tread (I cry'd) ah Circe! say, $95 The dark defcent, and who fhall guide the way? Can living eyes behold the realms below? What bark to waft me, and what wind to blow? Divine Ulyffes! asks no mortal guide. 600 Rear but the maft, the spacious fail display, The northern winds fhall wing thee on thy way. The v. 602. Soon halt then reach old Ocean's utmost ends, &c.] This whole scene is excellently imagin'd by the Poet, as Euftathius obferves; the trees are all barren, the place is upon the thores where nothing grows; and all the rivers are of a melancholy fignification, fuitable to the ideas we have of thofe infernal regions. Ulyffes arrives at this place, where he calls up the fhades of the dead, in the fpace of one day; from whence we may conjecture, that he means a place that lies between Cuma and Baia, near the Jake Avernus, in Italy; which, as Strabo remarks, is the fcene of the Necromancy of Homer, according to the opinion of Antiquity. He further adds, that there really are fuch rivers as Homer mentions, tho' not placed in their true fituation, according to the liberty allowable to Poetry. Others write, that the Cimmerii once inhabited Italy, and that the famous cave of Panfilipe was begun by them about the time of the Trojan wars: Here they offered facrifice to the Manes, which might give occafion to Homer's fiction. The Grecians, who inhabited thefe places after the Cimmerians, converted thefe dark habitations into ftoves, bathes, &c. Silius Italicus writes, that the Lucrine lake was antiently call'd Cocytus, lib. 12. Aft hic Lucrino manfisse vocabula quondam Cocyti memorat: The barren trees of Proferpine's black woods, 5 Poplars and willows trembling o'er the floods And enter there the kingdoms void of day: 10 And where, flow rolling from the Stygian bed, Where the dark rock o'erhangs th'infernal lake, First It is alfo probable, that Acheron was the antient name of Avernus, because Acherufia, a large water near Cume, flows into it by conceal'd paffages. Silius Italicus informs us, that Avernus was allo called Styx. Ille olim populis dictum Styga, nomine verfo, Stagna inter celebrem nunc mitia monftrat Avernum. Here Hannibal offer'd facrifice to the Manes, as it is recorded by Livy; and Tully affirms it from an antient Poet, from whom he quotes the following fragment; Inde in vicinia noftrà ̈TM Averni lacus Unde anima excitantur obscurâ umbrâ, Alti Acherontis aperto oftio. This may feem to juftifie the obfervation that Acheron was once the name of Avernus, tho' the words are capable of a different in-terpretation. If these remarks be true, it is probable that Homer does not neglect Geography, as moit Commentators judge. Virgil describes. Eneas defcending into Hell by Avernus, after the example of HoMilton places these rivers in Hell, and beautifully describes their natures, in his Paradife Loft. mer. D 4 -Along Firft draw thy faulchion, and on ev'ry fide olf Trench the black earth a cubit long and wide: To all the fhades around libations pour, And o'er th'ingredients ftrow the hallow'd flour: 620 Then the wan fhades and feeble ghofts implore, -Along the banks Of four Infernal rivers, that difgorge Into the burning lake their baleful streams, Thus alfo agreeably to the idea of Hell the offerings to the infer- Sterilemque tibi, Proferpina, Vaccam; to denote that the grave is unfruitful, that it devours all things, that it is a place where all things are forgotten. Thefe fe These to the reft; but to the Seer must bleed 625 A fable ram, the pride of all thy breed. Thefe folemn vows and holy offrings paid Wide o'er the pool thy faulchion wav'd around 'Till awful from the fhades arise the Seer. The turns of all thy future fate, display, Thy pilgrimage to come, and remnant of thy day. The morn confpicuous on her golden throne. Long |