CANTO V. 2.. At last the golden Oriental gate Of greatest heaven 'gan to open fair, And Phoebus fresh as bridegroom to his mate, Came dancing forth, shaking his dewy hair. Pfalm xix. 5. In them bath he fet a tabernacle for the fun; which cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a giant to run his course. Therewith his heavy hand he high 'gan rear, Him to have flain; when lo, a darksome cloud Upon him fell he no where doth appear, But vanifh'd is. The Elf him calls aloud But answer none receives: the darkness him does shroud. Not all fo fatisfy'd with greedy eye He fought all round about, his thirsty blade To bathe in blood of faithlefs enemy, Who all the while lay hid in secret shade. Copied from Homer, Il. г. 379. Αυὰρ ὁ ἄψ ἐπόρεσε κατακτάμεναι μενεαίνων ་ Ἔγχει χαλκείῳ. τ' δ' ἐξήρπαξ ̓Αφροδίτη Ῥεῖα μάλ', ὥςε θεός· ἐκάλυψε δ' αρ' ΗΕΡΙ ΠΟΛΛΗΙ. Ατρείδης Ατρείδης δ' ἀν' ὅμιλον ἐφόιτα θηρὶ ἐοικώς, Εἴ τι ἐσαθρήσειεν Αλέξανδρον θεοειδέα. Ille vero iterum irruit interficere cupiens Facile valde, utpote dea: cooperuit autem caligine multa. Atrides vero per turbam vagabatur feræ fimilis, Sicubi confpicaretur Alexandrum divina forma præditum. STAN Z. XXII. Dueffa fays to Night : O thou most ancient grandmother of all, More old than Jove, whom thou at first didst breed. Here Night is made to be the mother of the Gods. In his Hymn to Love, and in Colin Clout's Come Home Again, Love is defcribed as the maker of the world; for both which Spenfer had the authority of ancient Cofmogonifts. See Cudworth, Intell. Syst. p. 120, 248, 488. In Homer, Jupiter pays great refpect to Night. Jupiter would have deftroyed me," fays Somnus, Ἐι μὴ Νὺξ δμήτειρα θεῶν ἐσάωσε καὶ ἀνδρῶν, Τὴν ἱκόμην φεύγων· ὁ δ ̓ ἐπάυσατο χωόμενος περ *Αζετο γαρ μὴ Νυκτὶ θοῇ αποθύμια ἔρδοι. Nifi Nox domitrix deorum fervaffet et hominum, II. E. 259. G 2 STANZ. STANZ. XXIII. If old Aveugle's fons fo evil hear? Tam male audiunt. κακῶς ἀκόσσι. Milton, III. 7. Or hearft thou rather, pure, ethereal stream. way, it may not be amifs to observe, that this paffage in Milton feems partly copied from the Wisdom of Solomon. Hail, holy light, offspring of heaven first born, Or of th' Eternal coëternal beam May I exprefs thee, unblam'd? fince God is light, Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee, [Wisdom] is the breath of the power of Gad, and a pure influence [or ftream] flowing from the glory of the Almighty. She is the brightness of the ever lafting light. VII. 25. STANZ. STANZ. XXX. Speaking of Night: And all the while fhe ftood upon the ground, The wakeful dogs did never cease to bay, As giving warning of th' unwonted found, With which her iron wheels did them affray, And her dark griefly look them much difmay. The meffenger of death, the ghaftly owl, With dreary fhrieks did her alfo bewray; And hungry wolves continually did howl At her abhorred face, fo filthy and fo foul. There is an impropriety of expreffion in the fifth line. He fhould have faid: ber dark griefly look did alfo much difmay them.: He has here applied to Night, what the ancient Poets fay of Hecate. Theocritus, II. 12. Τα χθονίᾳ θ' Εκάτα, τὰν καὶ σκύλακες τρομέοντι Et ad Hecaten fubterraneam, quam etiam catuli timent, Idem. 35. Θέσυλι ταὶ κύνες ἄμμιν ἀνὰ πόλιν ὠρύονται. Α θεὸς ἐν τριόδοισι. G 3 Theftyli, Theftyli, canes nobis per urbem latrant. Dea adeft in triviis. Apollonius III. ἀμφὶ ται τήνγε Οξείη υλακῇ χθόνιοι κύνες ἐφθέγγοντο. Concerning Hecate's dogs, fee Virgil, Æn. VI. 257. Tibullus I. 11. 52. Horace Serm. I. vIII. Seneca Oedip. 569. Med. 840. Thyeft. 675. Statius Theb. IV. 428. Lucan VI. 733. Tzetzes, on Lycophron, verfe 77. fpeaking of Rhea and Hecate, fays that they facrificed dogs to them; for the barking of a dog makes spectres disappear, as does also the found of brafs. Our de αυλαῖς κύνας, ως φησι Σώφρων ἐν Μίμοις· ὁ γαρ κύων βαυξας λύει τα φάσματα, ὡς καὶ χαλκός κροτηθείς. Porphyrius, Περὶ ἀποχῆς ἐμψύχων, fays, Η' δ' Εκάλη Ταυρος, κύων, λέαινα ακόσσα, μᾶλλον ὑπακέει. STANZ. XXXI. Speaking of Avernus : By that fame hole, an entrance, dark and base, With smoke and fulphur hiding all the place, Defcends to hell. Virgil. Æn. VI. 237. Spelunca alta fuit, vaftoque inmanis biatu, Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro nemorumque tenebris ; Quam fuper baud ulle poterant, &c. |