For that act performed by Achilles upon Hector is more particularly described: Amborum retro pedum perforavit tendines Ad talum usque a calce, bubulaque innexuit lora De curruque ligavit; caput vero trahi sivit.-Hom. Il. xxii. 396. So that he bound not these ties about his feet, but made a perforation behind them, through which he ran the thongs, and so dragged him after his chariot: which was not hard to effect; the strength of those tendons being able to hold in that tracture; and is a common way practised by butchers, thus to hang their sheep and oxen.1 This, though an unworthy act, and so delivered by Homer, yet somewhat retaliated the intent of Hector himself towards the body of Patroclus, the intimate of Achilles; and stands excused by Didymus upon the custom of the Thessalians, to drag the body of the homicide unto the grave of their slain friends; and the example of Simon the Thessalian, who thus dealt with the body of Eurodamus, who had before slain his brother. 4. But, not to amuse you with pictures derived from Gentile histories, the draught of Potiphar's lady lying on a bed, and drawing Joseph unto her, seems additional unto the text, nor strictly justifiable from it; wherein it is only said, that, after some former temptation, when Joseph came home to despatch or order his affairs, and there was no man of the house then within, or with him, that she laid hold of his garment and said, "lye with me," without such apt preparations either of nakedness, or being in her bed, or the like opportunities, which pictures thereof have described. 5. The picture of Moses, praying between Hur and Aaron, seems to have miscarried in some draughts; while some omit the rod which he should hold up in his hand; and others describe him on his knees, with his hands supported by them: whereas it is plainly said in the text, that, when Moses was weary of standing, he sat down upon the rock. And therefore, for the whole process, and full representation, there must be more than one draught; the one representing him 1 oxen.] In the royal library at Turin is a curious volume, containing the Iliad, illustrated by the monks. One of the illuminations represents the burial of Hector, and a train of Benedictines assisting in the funeral ceremony. in station, the other in session, another in genuflexion. And though in this piece Aaron is allowed to be present on the hill at Rephidim, yet may he also challenge a place in the other piece of mount Sinai (wherein he is often omitted), according to the command of God unto Moses: "Thou shalt come up, thou and Aaron with thee; but let not the priests nor the people break through, to come up unto the Lord." 6. The picture of Jael nailing the head of Sisera unto the ground, seems questionable in some draughts; while Sisera is made to lie in a prone posture, and the nail driven into the upper part of the head; whereas it is plainly delivered that Jael struck the nail through his temples, and fastened him to the ground: and which was the most proper and penetrable part of the skull; such as a woman's hand might pierce, driving a large nail through, and longer than the breadth of a head, according to the description, that she took no ordinary nail, but such as fastened her tent, and pierced his head, and the ground under it. 7. An improper spectacle at a feast, and very incongruous unto the birth-day of a prince, a time of pardon and relaxation, was the head of John the Baptist. More properly, in the noble picture thereof, the hand of Reuben hath left out the person of Herodias, who was not in the room, agreeably unto the delivery of St. Mark; that, after Herod had promised to grant her daughter whatever she would ask, she went out to enquire of her mother, Herodias, what she should demand. And that Salome, or her daughter, brought in the head of John unto Herod, as he was sitting at the table, though it well sets off the picture, is not expressed in the text; wherein it is only said that she brought it unto her mother. 8. That King Ahasuerus feasted apart from the queen, is confirmable from Scripture account. Whether the queen were present at the fatal feast of Belshazzar seems of greater doubt; forasmuch as it is said in the text, that, upon the fright and consternation of the king, when none of the Chaldeans could read the hand-writing on the wall, the queen came in, and recommended Daniel unto him. But if it be only meant and understood of the queen-mother, the draught may hold, and the licentia pictoria not culpable in that notable piece of Tintoret or Bassano describing the feast of CHAP. XXII.] OUR SAVIOUR IN THE SHIP. 77 Belshazzar, wherein the queen is placed at the table with the king. 9. Though some hands have failed, yet the draught of St. Peter in the prison is properly designed by Rubens, sleeping between two soldiers, and a chain on each arm; and so illustrateth the text, that is, with two chains fastened unto his arms, and the one arm of each of the soldiers, according to the custom of those times, to fasten the prisoner unto his guard or keeper; and after which manner St. Paul is conceived to have had the liberty of going about Rome. 10. In the picture of our Saviour sleeping in the ship, while in many draughts he is placed not far from the middle, or in the prow of the vessel, it is a variation from the text, which distinctly saith "at the poop," which being the highest part, was freest from the billows. Again, in some pieces he is made sleeping with his head hanging down; in others, on his elbow; which amounteth not unto the textual expression, upon a pillow," or some soft support, or at least (as some conceive that emphatical expression may imply) some part of the ship convenient to lean down the head. Besides, this picture might properly take in the concurrent account of the Scripture, and not describe a single ship, since the same delivereth that there went off other naviculæ, or small vessels with it. 66 11. Whilst the text delivereth that the tempter placed our Saviour (as we read it) upon the pinnacle of the temple, some draughts do place him upon the point of the highest turrets; which, notwithstanding, Josephus describeth to have been made so sharp that birds might not light upon them; and the word Trepúytov signifying a pinna,2 or some projecture of the building, it may probably be conceived to have been some plain place or jetty, from whence he might well cast himself down upon the ground, not falling upon any part of the temple; if there were no wing or prominent part of the building peculiarly called by that name. 12. That piece of the three children in the fiery furnace, in several draughts, doth not conform unto the historical 2 the word, &c.] Unquestionably it could not have been any thing like a turret or pinnacle. Some commentators (Le Clerc) consider it a projecting portion of the building outside the parapet. Others (Rosenmüller) call it the flat roof of a portico. accounts: while in some they are described naked and bareheaded; and in others with improper coverings on their heads. Whereas the contrary is delivered in the text, under all learned languages, and also by our own, with some expositions in the margin: not naked in their bodies, (according to their figure in the Roma Sotterranea of Bosio,& among the sepulchral figures in the monument of St. Priscilla), but having a loose habit, after the Persian mode, upon them, whereby it might be said that their garments did not so much as smell of the fire; nor bare on their heads, as described in the first chamber of the cemetery of Priscilla, but having on it a tiara, or cap, after the Persian fashion, made somewhat reclining or falling agreeable unto the third table of the fifth cemetery, and the mode of the Persian subjects; not a peaked, acuminated, and erected cap, proper unto their kings, as is set down in the medal of Antoninus, with the reverse, Armenin. A standard direction for this piece might probably be that ancient description set down in the calendar used by the Emperor Basilius Porphyrogenitus, and by Pope Paul the Fifth, given unto the Vatican, where it is yet conserved.4 3 Roma, &c.] Jacques Bosio, Roma Sotterranea; left imperfect by him, but published by his executor, Aldrovandini, fol. 1632; since translated into Latin, and reprinted several times, with additions.-Gr. 4 Numerous additions might yet further be made to our author's collection of pictorial inaccuracies, if such were fairly within our province. It may be allowed to us, at least, to give one or two references to such additions. John Interian de Avala, a Spanish monk, who died at Madrid, in 1770, published a work on the errors of painters in representing religious subjects; it is entitled Pictor Christianus Eruditus, fol. 1720. In the European Magazine, for 1786, vol. ix. p. 241, is noticed a very curious work (little known), by M. Phil. Rohr, entitled Pictor Errans, which was abridged by Mr. W. Bowyer. Mr. Singer, in his Anecdotes of Spence, and Mr. D'Israeli, in his Curiosities of Literature, have given some very amusing collectanea of the kind. In the Monthly Magazine for 1812, are noticed several singular absurdities in costume; and undoubtedly many other such examples would reward a diligent forage through our numerous periodical publications:-but it is only requisite to compare the Illustrations which are constantly issuing from the hands of our artists, with the works they are intended to illustrate, in order to be frequently reminded of the proverbial conclusion of the whole matter;"it is even as pleaseth the painter." CHAP. XXIII.] OF AN HARE CROSSING THE HIGHWAY. 79 CHAPTER XXIII. Compendiously of many popular Customs, Opinions, &c. viz. of an Hare crossing the High-way; of the ominous appearing of Owls and Ravens; of the falling of Salt; of breaking the Egg-shell: of the True Lovers' Knot; of the Cheek Burning or Ear Tingling; of speaking under the Rose; of Smoke following the Fair; of Sitting cross-legged; of hair upon Moles; of the set time of pairing of Nails; of Lions' heads upon Spouts and Cisterns; of the saying, Ungirt, Unblest; of the Sun dancing on Easter-day; of the Silly-how; of being Drunk once a Month; of the appearing of the Devil with a Cloven hoof. If an hare cross the high-way, there are few above threescore years that are not perplexed thereat; which notwithstanding is but an augurial terror, according to that received expression, Inauspicatum dat iter oblatus lepus. And the ground of the conceit was probably no greater than this, that a fearful animal passing by us, portended unto us something to be feared: as upon the like consideration, the meeting of a fox presaged some future imposture; which was a superstitious observation prohibited unto the Jews, as is expressed in the idolatry of Maimonides, and is referred unto the sin of an observer of fortunes, or one that abuseth events unto good or bad signs; forbidden by the law of Moses; which notwithstanding sometimes succeeding, according to fears or desires, have left impressions and timorous expectations in credulous minds for ever. 2. That owls and ravens are ominous appearers, and pre share.] When a hare crosseth us, wee thinke itt ill lucke shee should soe neerely escape us, and we had not a dog as neere to catch her.-Wr. ravens.] The raven, by his accute sense of smelling, discerns the savour of the dying bodyes at the tops of chimnies, and that makes them flutter about the windows, as they use to doe in the searche of a carcasse. Now bycause whereever they doe this, itt is an evident signe that the sick party seldome escapes deathe: thence ignorant people counte them ominous, as foreboding deathe, and in some kind as causing deathe, whereof they have a sense indeed, but are noe cause at all. Of owles there is not the same opinion, especially in country-men, who thinke as well of them in the barne as of the cat in the house: but in great cityes where they are not frequent, their shriking and horrid note in the night is offensive to women and children, and such as are weake or sicklye.-Wr. On the owl, as an ominous bird, see The Queen Bee, ii. 22.-Jeff. |