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 arise from his great reputation among the Antients for Prophecy; and in honour to his memory they might imagine that his foul after death retain'd the same superiority. Ovid in his Metamorphoses gives us a very jocular reafon, for the blindness and prophetic knowledge of Tirefias, from a matrimonial contest between Jupiter and Juno. Cate Major, as Plutarch in his Political Precepts informs us, apply'd this verse to Scipio, when he was made Conful contrary to the Roman Statutes. Οιὸς πέπνυται, τοὶ δὲ σκιαὶ ἀἰσσεσιν. But I ought not to suppress what Diodorus Siculus relates concerning Tirefias. Biblioth. lib. 4. he tells us, that he had a daugh ter nam'd Daphne, a Priestess at Delphi. Παρ' ἧς φασὶ καὶ τὸν ποιη τὴν 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 distinguishing chara&er, which he gives to the father. An instance of a worthy difpofition in the Poet, and it remains at once an honour to Tirefius, 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 Histories that at once instruct and delight. It is particularly happy with refpect to the Pheacians, who could not but highly admire a person whose wifdom had not only deliver'd him from so 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 strange stories, and extraordinary adventures. How shall I tread (I cry'd) ah Circe! say, The v. 602. Soon Shalt then reach old Ocean's utmost ends, &c.] This whole scene is excellently imagin'd by the Poet, as Euftathi us observes; the trees are all barren, the place is upon the shores where nothing grows; and all the rivers are of a melancholy fignification, suitable to the ideas we have of those infernal regions. Ulyffes arrives at this place, where he calls up the shades of the dead, in the space 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 scene of the Necromancy of Homer, according to the opinion of Antiquity. He further adds, that there really are such rivers as Homer mentions, tho' not placed in their true situation, 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 occasion to Homer's fiction. The Grecians, who inhabited these places after the Cimmerians, converted these dark habitations into stoves, bathes, &c. Silius Italicus writes, that the Lucrine lake was antiently call'd Cocytus, lib. 12. Aft hic Lucrino mansisse vocabula quondam The barren trees of Proferpine's black woods, 10 And where, flow rolling from the Stygian bed, Firft It is also probable, that Acheron was the antient name of Avernus, because Acherufia, a large water near Cume, flows into it by conceal'd passages. 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 sacrifice 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 nostra Averni lacus Unde anima excitantur obscura umbra, Alti Acherontis aperto oftio. This may feem to justifie the observation that Acheron was once the name of Avernus, tho' the words are capable of a different interpretation. : If these remarks be true, it is probable that Homer does not neglect Geography, as most Commentators judge. Virgil describes Æneas descending into Hell by Avernus, after the example of Homer. Milton places these rivers in Hell, and beautifully describes their natures, in his Paradise Lost. D4 -Along First draw thy faulchion, and on ev'ry fide 620 Then the wan shades and feeble ghosts implore, Along the banks Of four Infernal rivers, that disgorge Thus alfo agreeably to the idea of Hell the offerings to the infer- Sterilemque tibi, Proserpina, Vaccam; to denote that the grave is unfruitful, that it devours all things, that it is a place where all things are forgotten. These ما fe These to the rest; but to the Seer must bleed 645 So speaking, from the ruddy orient shone D } Long 1 |