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BENEATH a beach the war-affecting race

Of Amazons, to thee a ftatue rais'd,

Where Ephefus' proud towers o'erlook the main:

325

Otrera firft perform'd the holy rites,

While round in faliar dance they clang'd their arms,
Hoarse to the hymn refounding: till the choir
At length they form'd and measur'd o'er the ground
Respondent to the fhrill fife's feeble strains.
Not yet Minerva, to the ftags a foe,

Ver. 323. Beneath, &c.] The poet in the following lines gives us an hiftory of the firft rife and progrefs of Diana's celebrated temple at Ephefus, which he affures us, the Amazons were the first occafion of, by the little ftatue they raised under a beach, or (as Dionyfius has it) in the niche of an elm, a ftriking inftance of the fimplicity of the first ages. The grandeur of that temple in after-times, and the particular veneration wherein Diana was held there, is too well known to require any thing from me on that head. Great is Diana of the Ephefians," was the cry of her blind adorers; and that Diana, was a fmall ftatue, as we are told, of ebony, made by one Canitia, which the Ephefians called AoTeres, or one that fell down from Jupiter. There were two temples, the first not fo grand as the fecond: Eroftratus, to make himself famous, burnt the firft, which Alexander offered to rebuild at his own expence, if the Ephefians would put his name on the front: but they rejected it, by telling him," it was not fit one God fhould build to another." The fecond, and the more fumptuous Edifice, is fuppofed to have been burnt in the time of Conftantine. There are fome ruins, and a few broken pillars of this ftructure ftill remainingan account of which may be feen in Spon's voyage. See Montfaucon's antiquities, b. 2. p. 1. c. 11. plate 6. fig. 24, 25. Otrera or Hippo, it feems, was the firft priestess, and 3

330

Drew

Marw Apa Condwr, one of the Amazonians, as the fcholiaft informs us.

Ver. 331. Not yet, &c.] From this paffage in the author, we may gather two things:that the Tibia of the antients were of the (Ora) bones of deer, and that their inventress was Minerva :

fays

Prima terebrato per rara foramina buxo,
Ut daret effeci Tibia longa fonos:
Vox placuit: liquidam faciem referentibus undis,
Vidi, virgineas intumuiffe genas:

Ars mihi non tanti eft, valeas mea tibia, dixi,
Excipit abjectam cefpite ripa fuo.

697.

Minerva in Ovid's faftorum lib. 6. ver.
And in Aristophanes, a Baotian says,
Υμεις δοσοι Θηβαθεν αυλητα παρα,

Τοις οίνοις φυσητε τον πρωκτον κυνος.
where the fcholiaft obferves he uses osas, be-
caufe formerly pipes were made an TWY EXCQHWE
ors, from the bones of ftags. They were
fometimes made of affes bones: one would won-
der, fays Plutarch, that an afs, & maxutatos, xal
αμεσυτατος ων ταλλα, an animal fo heavy and
averfe to music fhould affori oso λETTOTATOY Xal
proixaτator, the moft fhrill toned and mufical
bones. Whoever thinks it worth his while to
read more about the pipes, &c. of the antients,
may find an account of them in Montfaucon,
part the 2d of the 3d vol. b. 5. C. 2.

Drew from the hollow'd bones the flutes ripe found.

Fair Sardis heard, the Berecynthian realms
The diffonant rout re-ecchoed, as the dance
With warlike din attending, rough the twang
Of rattling quivers from their fhoulders rung.
Around the ftatue foon a temple rose,
Divineft edifice-whofe ftately height

And rich magnificence, the fumptuous east
Unrivall'd boasts, not by the Pythian dome
In all its glories equal'd !-Touch'd with pride
Contemptuous, and with madding fury seiz'd,
A crowd of ftout Cimmerians, like the fand
For numbers, from Inachian Bosphorus,
To pour destruction on those facred walls
Stern Lygdamis led on : Mistaken prince,

Alas how loft! nor thou, nor one of those
Whose chariots crowded o'er Cayster's mead
Thick as autumnal leaves; fhall hence return

Ver. 341. Touch'd, &c.] Lygdamis and the Cimmerians in the reign of Ardyes king of Lydia, invaded and over-ran all Afia minor, as Strabo tells us. They took Sardis, the metropolis of Lydia, but could never win the caftle. As Strabo and Herodotus are filent upon that head, I imagine what Hefychius fays, namely, "That Lygdamis burnt the temple of Diana," ot true; and Callimachus particularly fays, did not lay it wafte, he only threatned on his Cimmerians fo to do, ax:

335

340

345

Or

for he fubjoins, mistaken prince, he tells us he erred from his defign IT! He perished in Cilicia, according to Strabo. The Cimmerians were the descendants of Gomer, and the fame with the Gauls of Afia minor. Pliny speaking of them fays, Cimmerei populi feptentrionales funt, ad Bofporum ponti Euxini fretum habitantes: cujus ora curvatur in maotim, Scythia Paludem. See Univerfal History, vol. 1. p. 375.

And first triumphant hail'd the Deity.

Not with lefs hate the nine pursue the bard
Forgetful of Pimplea, than APOLLO

Him who forgets his DELOS :-Be my strains
Turn'd then to Delos: That th' approving God
At once may favour and inspire the song.

THO' to tempestuous feas and storms expos'd,
Its firm foundations rooted in the deep,

Unfhaken stands the ifle; round whofe rough fhores

Μη μοι κραναά νεμεσάσαι

Δαλος, εν α κεχυμαι

Ειξον ως πολλωνίας Αμφοτέραντοι χαρίτων
Συν Θεοις ζεύξω τελος.

Philo makes it clear, that Pindar performed his
defign, when he fays, Δια και Πίνδαρος επι της
Anλou Onoi, xaię w DEOTIμNTE, &c. Nothing can
begin more nobly than the prefent hymn, the
double interrogation of τινα χρονον, and WOTE,
roufes the attention-and the addrefs to his foul,
Soup, is elegantly poetical. PornTop, is Pindar's
frequent addrefs, and ups, he likewife ufes.
There is no appearance of a tautology in thefe
two interrogations, as has been imagined, the
one means at what particular time, when? the
other, will you ever-?

Ver. 3. Most facred, &c.] As thefe iflands had their name from furrounding Delos (Cycladas fic appellatas, quod omnes ambiunt Delum.) It seems probable they had thence also their title of gwrala, or moft facred) as Delos was a part of thefe Cyclades, and looked upon itself the moft facred place in the world. Otherwise why a parcel of poor wretched islands famed for nothing but the mifery and horror wherewith they threatned the offending Romans.

(Spreta Myconos, humilifque Seriphos ) why they should be fo highly honoured, I know

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not: Spanheim's first conjecture, that they probably were once in better cafe, feems quite groundless and his fecond, though more reafonable is yet, I think, not fatisfactory: he says, they were called grata, on account of the great veneration they paid to Delos: it is true, they are known fo to have done; but were not other places equally religious in the worship they payed to that ifland?-a town has been celebrated and esteemed venerable for having had a great man in it, a country for a particular city or temple, and why not a number of iflands for having one of themfelves fo eminently renowned? The reader muft judge.

Ver. 13. Tho', &c.] This is a very difficult paffage in the original: I have endeavoured to give it as poetical a fenfe, as I am able: I had once rendered it more paraphraftically, thus:

About its defert coafts tho' rough winds blow
Howling, as round fome billow-beaten rock,
To fmiling Ceres and the generous steed
Ungrateful tho' its foil, fit place of reft
For cormorants that wing the mid-way air:
Tho' thus unmov'd it braves th' Icarian waves
Tha: proudly o'er its cliffs their curling foam.
Triumphant dafh: tho' once its barren fhores.
None but the wandring race of fishers knew :
Yet when to Ocean's and his Tethys' court, &c.
N 2
The

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F facred DELOS, great APOLLO's nurse,

When, when, my foul, or ever wilt thou fing?
Moft facred, all the Cyclades might well

Each furnish theme divine: But DELOS firft

From every Muse demands the tribute lay,
For that she first their infant God receiv'd,

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And first triumphant hail'd the Deity.

Not with less hate the nine pursue the bard
Forgetful of Pimplea, than APOLLO

Him who forgets his DELOS :-Be my ftrains
Turn'd then to Delos: That th' approving God

At once may favour and inspire the song.

THO' to tempeftuous feas and storms expos'd, Its firm foundations rooted in the deep,

Unfhaken stands the ifle; round whofe rough fhores

Μη μοι κραναα νεμεσάσαι

Δαλος, εν α κεχυμαι

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Ειξον ως πολλωνίας Αμφοτέραντοι χαρίτων
Συν Θεοις ζεύξω τελος.

Philo makes it clear, that Pindar performed his
defign, when he fays, Δια και Πινδαρος επι της
Anλov Qnoi, xaię w biotiμNTE, &c. Nothing can
begin more nobly than the prefent hymn, the
double interrogation of τινα χρονον, and ποτε,
rouses the attention-and the addrefs to his foul,
noue, is elegantly poetical. PornTop, is Pindar's
frequent addrefs, and ups, he likewife ufes.
There is no appearance of a tautology in these
two interrogations, as has been imagined, the
one means at what particular time, when? the
other, will you ever- ?

Ver. 3. Most facred, &c.] As these islands had their name from furrounding Delos (Cycladas fic appellatas, quod omnes ambiunt Delum.) It seems probable they had thence alfo their title of gurala, or moft facred) as Delos was a part of the fe Cyclades, and looked upon itfelf the moft facred place in the world. Otherwise why a parcel of poor wretched islands famed for nothing but the mifery and horror wherewith they threatned the offending Romans.

(Spreta Myconos, humilifque Seriphos) why they should be fo highly honoured, I know

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not: Spanheim's first conjecture, that they probably were once in better cafe, feems quite groundless and his fecond, though more reasonable is yet, I think, not fatisfactory he says, they were called gwrara, on account of the great veneration they paid to Delos: it is true, they are known fo to have done; but were not other places equally religious in the worship they payed to that ifland?-a town has been celebrated and esteemed venerable for having had a great man in it, a country for a particular city or temple, and why not a number of iflands for having one of themfelves fo eminently renowned? The reader must judge.

Ver. 13. Tho', &c.] This is a very difficult paffage in the original: I have endeavoured to give it as poetical a fenfe, as I am able: I had once rendered it more paraphraftically, thus:

About its defert coafts tho' rough winds blow
Howling, as round fome billow-beaten rock,
To fmiling Ceres and the generous steed
Ungrateful tho' its foil, fit place of reft
For cormorants that wing the mid-way air :
Tho' thus unmov'd it braves th' Icarian wavesɔ
Tha: proudly o'er its cliffs their curling foam
Triumphant dafh: tho' once its barren fhores
None but the wandring race of fishers knew :
Yet when to Ocean's and his Tethys' court, &c.
N 2
The

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