-It was looked on as a great omen, and even to portend the regal dignity to those on whom it appeared. Livy records a like phaenomenon happening to Servius Tullius, while yet a boy in Tarquinius Priscus's family, (lib. I. § 39. See ib. § 41.) Hominum quoque capita vespertinis horis magno praesagio "circumfulgent:" Pliny, of the lambent lights called Castor and Pollux, lib. II. c. xxxvi. + This was an attitude used by the Romans of old when they prayed, and is said to be used among the Africans to this day. Virgil repeats it in other places. 66 Duplices tendens ad sidera palmas, "Talia voce refert.". Aen. I. 97. "Ad caelum tendens ardentia lumina frustra; "Amens animi, et rumore accensus amaro Ib. IV. 205. of Iarbas. And so Horace, to his servant in the country: "Caelo supinas si tuleris manus, Lib. III. Od. xxiii. * Thunder on the left hand was a fortunate and confirming omen. When the prophet Amphiaraus in Statius, by order of Adrastus king of Argos, consults the heavens, whether the people of Argos ought to make war with Thebes in favour of Polynices against his brother Eteocles, or not: He prays to Jupiter, - that, if they were to march on, and attack Thebes, he would thunder on the left; but if they ought to stay at home, he would then give a signal to the right. "Si datur, et duris sedet haec sententia Parcis "Solvere Echionias Lernaeâ cuspide portas; 66 Signa feras, laevusque tones. "Si prohibes, hic necte moras; dextrisque profundum "Alitibus praetexe diem.' 66 Statius, Theb. lib. III. 491. VER. 707-710. Age, chare pater, cervici imponere nostrae :"Ipse subibo humeris: nec me labor iste gravabit. "Quo res cunque cadent, unum et commune periclum, "Una salus ambobus erit." N "Qualis Aeneas patrem gestans pingitur, reverendus et hostibus." Appian. lib. IV. 986. There is a figure of this in Polymetis, p. 64. 66 VER. 745, 746. "Quem non incusavi amens hominumque Deorumque ? "Aut quid in eversâ vidi crudelius urbe?" *Mr. Dryden, very justly, takes notice of the address of Virgil, in speaking of the loss of Creusa here. "It was not for nothing," says he, "that this passage was related with all "these tender circumstances: Aeneas told it, Dido heard it." Dedication to his Transl. of Virgil. AENEID THE THIRD. VER. 4-7. " DIVERSA exilia, et desertas quaerere terras, "Antandro, et Phrygiae molimur montibus Idae: "* Incerti 米 quo fata ferant; ubi sistere detur." *Father Catrou has here altered the text, and reads Diversas; and thinks the repetition a beauty: but certainly there is no reason for the alteration; Desertae, or Vacuae terrae, were the most proper to plant colonies in, and exiles to look for: and one may observe that Virgil uses the same word Deserta (ver. 112. Desertaque litore Crete") where it is particularly urged as an inducement to go and settle in Crete. **Ruaeus has the following note on this passage: "Tamen "Creüsa monuerat, Aen. II. 781. in Hesperiâ ad ripas Tybris "sedes esse futuras. Ergo, vel non credidit inani Čreüsae si"mulacro; vel illud Creüsae vaticinium ex iis est locis, quos 66 Virgilius emendare debuisset."Virgil, a few verses after (viz. 186.), gives a good reason why Aeneas did not entirely depend upon what was told him by Creüsa; when he makes Anchises, on the like occasion, (viz.) on reflecting on Cassandra's prophecies, cry out, "Quis ad Hesperiae venturos littora Teucros "Crederet?". See other reasons given by Father Catrou, in his remarks on this place: to which one may add, that this critic does not consider' that, among other things, Creüsa foretold "longa exilia ;" and therefore, supposing Aeneas gave entire credit to the vision, he could not expect to find an immediate settlement in Italy on his first landing, without taking proper measures to effect it. And if so, in what country could he hope to find the first reception and assistance sooner, than Thrace? "Hospitium antiquum Trojae." 1 "Cum sociis, natoque, Penatibus, et magnis Dîs. 66 1 *' Feror, twice repeated here. Observe the expression. He seems to be forced in by fate, not to go by choice: yet "Hospitium antiquum" was reason sufficient for going thither. 66 *The city of Aenos; where Caepio, Cato's brother, died, and was there buried by him; and a stately monument of Thasian Marble erected over him: Plutarch, life of Cato the younger. It is now called Eno. See Ruaeus. 3 * The Poet seems here, by a spirit of prophecy, to foretel that this country would be fatal to the descendants of Aeneas; as Constantinople afterwards proved. 66 VER. 22-29. + Forte fuit juxtà tumulus, quo cornea summo 66 Vellitur, huic atro liquuntur sanguine guttae, "Et terram tabo maculant," etc. + The only way to judge truly of the antients, in points that are purely antient, is to imagine ourselves in their places; in the same circumstances, and with the same sort of ideas they had. As we can very seldom do this, we are very often mistaken about them. I can't say that I approve this passage; but is not the fault in myself? Would it have shocked me, had I been born a Roman, in the time of Augustus, and had read it soon after the Aeneid was published? They stocked every thing with Divinities and Intelligences: there was not a river, a lake, a grot, or a grove, without them. These were not poetical ornaments; but the real object of the belief and religion of the common people; and the professed religion of the great. When they believed every grove and every tuft of trees to have some particular divinities belonging to it; it was but one step farther to entertain the notion of Intelligences vitally annexed to a tree, which was their received notion of the Hamadryades. (See Bayle, Art. HAMAD.) Those stories of Daphne, Phaeton's sisters, and the like, were known stories too; and tolerably well received by the most believing part of mankind, the vulgar. There is even an Embassador in Livy, that treats a consecrated tree in general as an intelligent being, and as a Deity. "Tum ex legatis unus abiens; Et haec (inquit) sacrata quer"cus, et quicquid Deorum est, audiant foedus à vobis ruptum." Lib. III. § xxv. VER. 73-77. "Sacra mari colitur medio gratissima tellus "Nereïdum matri et Neptuno Aegeo: "Quam pius Arcetinens oras et littora circum 66 Errantem, Mycone celsâ Gyaroque revinxit ; "Immotamque coli dedit, et contemnere ventos." * Delos being reputed the birth-place of Apollo, the circumjacent islands (therefore called the Cyclades), to make it the more famous, sent thither by public order priests, sacrifices, etc. instituting there public solemnities: Sir G. Wheeler, p. 53. He was on the spot: and tells us, that the island is but small, not exceeding five or six miles about; that it hath the island Rheucia westward, from which it is parted by a channel of about half a mile over; the southern parts of Mycone east; and the channel between Mycone and Tino to the north. It is now utterly uninhabited; but the ruins of its former glory still remaining, of which Sir George gives a description, with a draught of the island. He says, the island lieth low in respect of the circumjacent isles, which are beyond proportion higher, p. 58. By Mycone and Gyarus, the Poet probably means all the Cyclades, though he names only two instead of the whole. He adds, Celsâ, with respect to what is observed above by Sir George Wheeler.-Mycone is not so far distant from Delos, as Ferrarius in his Dictionary assureth; it being but four miles at the most. It may have 25 or 30 miles in circumference. Sir G. W. p. 62. Statius, in describing a storm in the Aegean sea, says: 66 "Dubiae motis radicibus obstant Cyclades ipsa tuâ Mycone Gyaroque revelli, "Dele, times; magnique fidem testaris alumni." Thebaid. lib. III. ver. 438. VER. 94-98. "Dardanidae dnri, quae vos à stirpe parentum "Prima tulit tellus, eadem vos ubere laeto 66 Accipiet reduces: antiquam exquirite matrem. "Hic domus † Aeneae cunctis dominabatur oris, "Et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis." * Observe, the oracle speaks to the Trojans by this name, not Teucri, to intimate their descent from Dardanus; but this circumstance Anchises might easily overlook. + Homer had said long before, Αἰνείαο βιλ Τρώεσσιν ἀνάξει, Καὶ παῖδες παίδων, τοί κεν μετόπισθε γένωνται. Π. Υ. 308. It was not uncommon of old, to have nations entertain prophecies of their being designed by Heaven to be masters of all the world. Such were pretended among the Romans, from the very infancy of their state; and was confirmed on the building of the old Capitol; to which Virgil alludes in another place: "Dum domus Aeneae Capitolî immobile saxum "Accolet, imperiumque Pater Romanus habebit." Aen. IX. 449. See this proved more at large, in Pol. III. 11. VER. 102-113. regna. "Tum genitor, veterum *1 volvens monumenta virorum: "Audite, ô proceres, ait, et spes discite vestras. "Creta Jovis magni medio jacet insula ponto; "Mons** Idaeus ubi, et gentis cunabula nostrae: "Centum urbes habitant magnas, uberrima "Maximus unde pater, si rite audita recordor, "Teucrus Rhaeteas primum est advectus in oras, "Optavitque locum regno: nondum Ilium et arces "Pergameae steterant; habitabant vallibus imis. "Hinc mater cultrix Cybele *3, Corybantiaque aera, "Idaeumque nemus: hinc fida silentía sacris; "Et juncti currum dominae subiere leones." 1 * See Doctor Trapp's note on Ruaeus's remark on this pas sage. The Doctor observes, that Ruaeus gives no answer to |