Spite of his orisons-Some say, the hand And though his hand could pluck the fruit, he chose Fair Isabella to his wish inclin'd: While she, subjected to a tyrant's laws, (Like some poor mouse within her foe's sharp claws) Unfriended and forlorn, would rather dare 70 The worst of ills than what she fear'd to bear; Ver. 66. Like some poor mouse, &c.] Certainly too ludicrous an image on so pathetic an occasion. To whom, with heart devout, the mourning dame 75 Had vow'd to dedicate her virgin name. She mark'd, and trembling mark'd, th' unhallow'd fire What shall she do? How shape her dangerous course? A thousand schemes, at length, her thoughts design'd 80 The Pagan, by his words and deeds, confess'd Of far more worth than aught thou canst obtain 95 Th' invalu'd good thou to my hand may'st owe. With rue and ivy, o'er a fire when pil'd 100 Ver. 89. Wouldst thou but ensure, My honour safe, &c.---] A similar story is told of a virgin in the time of Mirvan, the caliph, in the eighth century, and of another named Brasilla (the time uncertain) related by Francesco Barbaro, in his book concerning the choice of a wife. Zatta. With cypress-wood, will (strange to tell) produce, I ask but this---here plight thy solemn vow, The damsel thus the Pagan's suit repress'd, The wondrous water with such spell indu'd, 105 110 115 120 Through which his limbs might scorn each weapon's power, As Cygnus or Achilles scorn'd before; Ver. 122. As Cygnus or Achilles --] Ovid tells us, Metam. Book xii. that Cygnus, the son of Neptune, could not be wounded. The common story of Achilles is, that he was dipped in the river Styx by his mother Thetis, and thereby became invulnerable in every part except the heel by which she held him, and that he was at last shot by Paris at the altar, in the only vulnerable place, at the instigation of Apollo, during the ceremony of his nuptials with Polyxena, the daughter of Priam. This table is certainly of much later date than Homer, and not countenanced in the poems of Virgil, Horace, or Ovid. Homer represents him as being wounded in the But meant his compact should no longer hind: Of God or Saint--for breach of faith the worst 125 battle of the river, by Asteropeus, who was ambi-dexter, and threw two darts at Achilles at the same time. At once Asteropeus discharg'd each lance, (For both his dextrous hands the lance could wield) One raz'd Achilles' hand, the spouting blood Spun forth...... Pope's Iliad, B. xxi. v. 182. Achilles was not slain in the temple, but fell in the field of battle, according to Homer, as appears by the conversation between that hero and Agamemnon in the shades. O son of Peleus! greater than mankind! Pope's Odys. Book xxiv. ver. 51. Hesiod has no account of the modern fable of Achilles, nor any of the ancient Greek tragedians. Sophocles thus mentions his death, in the tragedy of Philoctetes, Act ii. Scene i. Of Afric's sons, by perjur'd deeds accurst---] The ill faith of the Carthaginians was known to a proverb in the time of the Romans, Punica fides. Thus Addison in the mouth of Juba: Our Punic faith Is infamous, and branded to a proverb. Cato. O'er hanging cliffs, through vallies dark with shade, From towns and cities far the virgin stray'd, Collecting various herbs, while at her side The Pagan watch'd, and every motion ey❜d. 130 Bion, who lived 187 years before Christ, in a fragment of an epithalamium on the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis, makes no mention of the immersion in the Styx; neither does Catullus in his poem on the same subject. Strabo, who died 65 years after Catullus, does not speak of this fable of the Styx, although he frequently alludes to the story of Achilles. Horace cails Achilles, "filius Thetidos Marine," in three places. He speaks thus of his death..." abstulit clarum cita mors Achillem;" and mentions him frequently, but never as having been invulnerable. Ovid gives no countenance to the story, though he particularly commemorates the death of Cygnus, slain by Achilles; and tells us, that the Grecian hero, to his great surprise, finding him invulner. able, was obliged to strangle him; that before his death he boasted to Achilles of his superior advantage derived from being the son of Neptune, alluding to this preternatural gift. Nate dea (nam te fama prænovimus) inquit Mars quoque ab hoc capere arma solet: removebitur omne Est aliquid, non esse satum Nereïde, sed qui Metam. Lib. xii. v. 86. ...Goddess born! For ornament, not use, these arms are worn; So Mars is arm'd for glory, not for need: Dryden. |