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N° XXXII.

Verfe 872. Λίμνης Τριζωνίαδος.

917. This hallow'd Lake by Triton form'd.

THE river and lake of Triton in Africa was confecrated, as the birth-place of the Goddess Minerva: Hence the derived her title of Teloyers, as he is called in the hymn to Pallas, attributed to Homer: And Diodorus Siculus exprefs-ly tells us, that from this circumftance fhe was named Tritonis: Thus Lucan,

Et fe dilectâ Tritonida dixit ab undâ.

2

(L. 9. v. 354.)

4

3

The Heroines of Libya, according to Apollonius Rhodius, bathed the Goddess in the stream of Triton, when the iffued from the head of her Father: And Æfchylus calls it her native river. According to Herodotus', the Inhabitants near the lake Tritonis celebrated a feftival in honour of Minerva, as their native Goddess, and chiefly facrificed to her. The Reader may confult Meutfius in his Regnum Atticum on this fubject. C. 4.

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THE beautiful locks of Apollo, for which he was fo celebrated both by the Græcian and Roman Poets, are here by a poetical metaphor faid to glitter with gold: Thus Pindar', and our Poet in his Supplices, exprefsly apply the epithet of xquonóμas, or the golden-haired, to this God: and Valerius Flaccus calls him Sol auricomus. According to Macrobius, he derived this appellation of chryfocomes from the fplendour of the rays, which were denominated the golden locks of the Sun: And Phurnutus' observes, "that this epithet has a fingular propriety in allufion to his folar rays, fince he is xoowds of a golden countenance." That Apollo was thus reprefented by the Artists, appears from Montfaucon, who fays of the Tyrant Dionyfius, "that he robbed a statue of this God of his golden hair :" There is no reason therefore to fuppofe with Brodeus', that the allufion of Euripides is here to the golden clafps or fibulæ, which bound the hair of Apollo, according to the expreffion in Virgil,

Comptos de more capillos.

Olym. Od. 7. v. 58.

4 L. 1. c. 17. p. 281.
6 Antiq. Expl. tom. 2. p. 55.

(n. 1. 10. v. 832.)

2 V.975.
3 Argon. 1. 4. v. 92.
s De Nat. Deor. c. 32. ed. Gale, p. 224.
? Annot. in Ion. p. 111.

He

He might have been much more fortunate in his quotation from the fame Roman Poet, fince Virgil applies even to the hair of Apollo himself the ornament of gold,

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But it is more natural to refer this expreffion of Creufa to the real brilliancy of the locks of her divine Lover, than to the artificial splendour of his golden head-drefs. Dr. Mufgrave correfponds with me in opinion; and directs us in his Note to the epithet of xpuocnóμas, used by our Poet in his Troades, and by Aristophanes in his Birds 10, where in both places it is applied to Apollo.

ΤΟ

N° XXXIV.

Verfe 889. Φάρεσιν ἔδρεπον.

As the vermeil flowers

929.

I gather'd in my vest.

THIS rural employment of Creufa with the confequences attending it recalls to our mind,

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Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis

Was gather'd.

(Milton. Par. Loft. B. 4. v. 271.)

Which Ovid and Claudian have both fo beautifully de

fcribed.

Quo dum Proferpina luco

Ludit, et aut violas, aut candida lilia carpit ;
Dumque puellari ftudio calathofque finumque
Implet, & æquales certat fuperare legendo;
Pæne fimul vifa eft, dilectaque, raptaque Diti;
Ufque adeò properatur amor; Dea territa mæsto
Et matrem, & comites, fed matrem fæpius, ore
Clamat.

(Met. 5. v. 599.)

Æftuat ante alias avido fervore legendi
Frugiferæ fpes una Deæ; nunc vimine texto
Ridentes calathos fpoliis agreftibus implet.

(De Rap. Profer. 1. 2. car. 34. v. 139.)

We also learn from the Scholiaft of Apollonius Rhodius, reciting the testimony of Chærilus, that Orithyia, the youngeft Sister of Creufa, met with the fame accident, as she was gathering flowers near the fountain of Cephifus. (Argon. 1. I. v. 207.)

1 See alfo Cicero in Verrem. 1. 4. c. 48.

N° XXXV.

Verfe 920.

N° XXXV.

Δάφνας

Ἔρνεα φοίνικα παρ αβροκόμαν.

And the laurel boughs

951. With the foft foliage of the palm o'erhung.

4

THE Laurel tree and the Palm'are both again mentioned in our Author's Hecuba' and Iphigenia 2 in Tauris, as affording their joint affiftance to Latona 3 in her act of parturition : For the Goddess reclined against them, and relieved herself from the pangs of travail. The learned Mr. Bryant obferves," that the Jews ufed to carry boughs of the palm at fome of their festivals, and particularly at the celebration of their nuptials; and it was thought to have an influence at the birth; Euripides alludes to this in his Ion, where he makes Latona recline herself against a Palm tree, when she is going to produce Apollo and Diana." To this obfervation we may add the authority of Ælian", "that Latona at Delos, having grasped the Olive and the Palm, was inftantly delivered, though before she was unable to accomplish it." The

2 V.

458 & 459.

1099 & 1100.

I V. 3 The Italian Tranflator Carmeli has abfurdly mistaken the fenfe of this paffage by fuppofing that Apollo, and not Latona, embraced the trees with his hands in the act of her parturition,

Dove Latona in luce

Ti pofe con infigne

E venerando parto,
Colle tue man divine

Strignendo tu l'alloro. (tom. 9. p.131.)

4 Anal. of Ant. Mythol. On Phoenix. vol. I. p. 321.

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5. Var. Hift. 1. 5. c. 4.

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