第 151 节

desire of avoiding the pollution of bloodshed—which seems to have suggested the practice of burying prisoners alive, with a scantling of food by their side. Though Homer makes no mention of this horrible usage, the example of the Roman Vestals affords reasons for believing that, in ascribing it to the heroic ages, Sophocles followed an authentic tradition.”—Thirlwall’s Greece, vol. i. p. 171, sq.

[175] _Paris’ lofty dome_. “With respect to the private dwellings, which are oftenest described, the poet’s language barely enables us to form a general notion of their ordinary plan, and affords no conception of the style which prevailed in them or of their effect on the eye. It seems indeed probable, from the manner in which he dwells on their metallic ornaments that the higher beauty of proportion was but little required or understood, and it is, perhaps, strength and convenience, rather than elegance, that he means to commend, in speaking of the fair house which Paris had built for himself with the aid of the most skilful masons of Troy.”—Thirlwall’s Greece, vol. i. p. 231.

[176] _The wanton courser_.

“Come destrier, che da le regie stalle Ove a l’usa de l’arme si riserba, Fugge, e libero al fiu per largo calle Va tragl’ armenti, o al fiume usato, o a l’herba.”

Gier, Lib. ix. 75.

[177] _Casque_. The original word is stephanae, about the meaning of which there is some little doubt. Some take it for a different kind of cap or helmet, others for the rim, others for the cone, of the helmet.

[178] _Athenian maid:_ Minerva.

[179] _Celadon_, a river of Elis.

[180] _Oïleus, i.e._ Ajax, the son of Oïleus, in contradistinction to Ajax, son of Telamon.

[181] _In the general’s helm_. It was customary to put the lots into a helmet, in which they were well shaken up; each man then took his choice.

[182] _God of Thrace_. Mars, or Mavors, according to his Thracian epithet. Hence “Mavortia Mœnia.”

[183] _Grimly he smiled_.

“And death Grinn’d horribly a ghastly smile.”

—“Paradise Lost,” ii. 845.

“There Mavors stands Grinning with ghastly feature.”

—Carey’s Dante: Hell, v.

[184] “Sete ò guerrieri, incomincio Pindoro, Con pari honor di pari ambo possenti, Dunque cessi la pugna, e non sian rotte Le ragioni, e ’l riposo, e de la notte.”

—Gier. Lib. vi. 51.

[185] It was an ancient style of compliment to give a larger portion of food to the conqueror, or person to whom respect was to be shown. See Virg. Æn. viii. 181. Thus Benjamin was honoured with a “double portion.” Gen. xliii. 34.

[186] _Embattled walls._ “Another essential basis of mechanical unity in the poem is the construction of the rampart. This takes place in the seventh book. The reason ascribed for the glaring improbability that the Greeks should have left their camp and fleet unfortified during nine years, in the midst of a hostile country, is a purely poetical one: ‘So long as Achilles fought, the terror of his name sufficed to keep every foe at a distance.’ The disasters consequent on his secession first led to the necessity of other means of protection. Accordingly, in the battles previous to the eighth book, no allusion occurs to a rampart; in all those which follow it forms a prominent feature. Here, then, in the anomaly as in the propriety of the Iliad, the destiny of Achilles, or rather this peculiar crisis of it, forms the pervading bond of connexion to the whole poem.”—Mure, vol. i., p. 257.

[187] _What cause of fear_, &c.

“Seest thou not this? Or do we fear in vain Thy boasted thunders, and thy thoughtless reign?”

Dryden’s Virgil, iv. 304.

[188] _In exchange_. These lines are referred to by Theophilus, the Roman lawyer, iii. tit. xxiii. § 1, as exhibiting the most ancient mention of barter.

[189] “A similar bond of connexion, in the military details of the narrative, is the decree issued by Jupiter, at the commencement of the eighth book, against any further interference of the gods in the battles. In the opening of the twentieth book this interdict is withdrawn. During the twelve intermediate books it is kept steadily in view. No interposition takes place but on the part of the specially authorised agents of Jove, or on that of one or two contumacious deities, described as boldly setting his commands at defiance, but checked and reprimanded for their disobedience; while the other divine warriors, who in the previous and subsequent cantos are so active in support of their favourite heroes, repeatedly allude to the supreme edict as the cause of their present inactivity.”—Mure, vol. i. p 257. See however, Muller, “Greek Literature,” ch. v. Section 6, and Grote, vol. ii. p. 252.

[190] “As far removed from God and light of heaven, As from the centre thrice to th’ utmost pole.”

—“Paradise Lost.”

“E quanto è da le stelle al basso inferno, Tanto è più in sù de la stellata spera”

—Gier. Lib. i. 7.

“Some of the epithets which Homer applies to the heavens seem to imply that he considered it as a solid vault of metal. But it is not necessary to construe these epithets so literally, nor to draw any such inference from his description of Atlas, who holds the lofty pillars which keep earth and heaven asunder. Yet it would seem, from the manner in which the height of heaven is compared with the depth of Tartarus, that the region of light was thought to have certain bounds. The summit of the Thessalian Olympus was regarded as the highest point on the earth, and it is not always carefully distinguished from the aerian regions above The idea of a seat of the gods—perhaps derived from a more ancient tradition, in which it was not attached to any geographical site—seems to be indistinctly blended in the poet’s mind with that of the real mountain.”—Thirlwall’s Greece, vol. i. p. 217, sq.

[191] “Now lately heav’n, earth, another world Hung e’er my realm, link’d in a golden chain To that side heav’n.”

—“Paradise Lost,” ii. 1004.

[192] _His golden scales_.

“Jove now, sole arbiter of peace and war, Held forth the fatal balance from afar: Each host he weighs; by turns they both prevail, Till Troy descending fix’d the doubtful scale.”

Merrick’s Tryphiodorus, v 687, sqq.

“Oh’ Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray, Hung forth in heav’n his golden scales, Wherein all things created first he weighed; The pendulous round earth, with balanced air In counterpoise; now ponders all events, Battles and realms. In these he puts two weights, The sequel each of parting and of fight: The latter quick up flew, and kick’d the beam.”

“Paradise Lost,” iv. 496.

[193] _And now_, &c.

“And now all heaven Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread; Had not th’ Almighty Father, where he sits ... foreseen.”

—“Paradise Lost,” vi. 669.

[194] _Gerenian Nestor_. The epithet _Gerenian_ either refers to the name of a place in which Nestor was educated, or merely signifies honoured, revered. See Schol. Venet. in II. B. 336; Strabo, viii. p. 340.

[195] _Ægae,