6 ΙΟ Scholiaft on Apollonius Rhodius confirms this cuftom of pregnant women difcharging themfelves of their burden by feizing fome object prefenting itself, as Latona did the Palm. Be this as it may, this Delian Palm is often mentioned by the Poets', as confecrated to great longevity, and even to im mortality, from this circumftance. Homer makes Ulyffes affert in the Odyffey, that he faw it at Delos; and we have the testimony of Cicero, that in his time this identical plant was reported to exift; Quod Homericus Ulyffes Deli se proceram & teneram palmam vidiffe dixit, hodie monftrant eandem: The fame was ftill visible in the days of Pliny 10; Nec non palma Deli ab ejusdem Dei ætate confpicitur. The Rea der, who is astonished at this miraculous longevity, will apply the words of Cicero on the Oak of Marius with equal propriety to the Delian Palm; "Manet vero, Attice noster, et femper manebit, fata eft enim ingenio; nullius autem agricolæ cultu ftirps tam diuturna, quam poetæ verfu feminari poteft:" This, my dear Atticus, ftill exifts, and for ever will exift, fince it is fown by Genis: For no plant can be cultivated by Agriculture for a period of equal duration, as when it is fown by the verse of poetry: This, according to the faying of Scævola, will grow old through innumerable ages, Canefcet fæclis innumerabilibus. (De Leg. 1. 1. c. I.) • On l. 1. v. 1131. This paffage is cited by Brodæus, in Ion. Annot. p. iii, 7 Callim. Hym. in Apol. v. 4. & Hym. in Del. v. 210. See the Note of Spanheim on this laft paffage. 8 L. 6. v. 163. De Leg. 1. 1, C. I. to Hift. Nat. 1. 16. c. 44. f. 89. No. XXXVI. N° XXXVI. Verfe 996. Ην 'Αιγίδ ̓ ὀνομάζεσι Παλλάδος ςολήν. 1029. The Ægis: fo they call the veft of Pallas. THE Ægis of Minerva, here described as her breaft-plate, is represented to have been formed of the fkin of the Gorgon: As this Monster had its bofom armed with vipers', fo the ægis was adorned with the fame poetical appendage: Thus our Poet exprefsly tells us in the fequel of the play, that the Gorgon, embroidered by Creufa, was clasped with ferpents in the manner of the ægis. I think we may venture to pronounce with certainty, that from this defcription of Euripides Virgil painted on his Vulcanian fhield for Æneas the following fublime emblem; Ægidaque horrificam, turbatæ Palladis arma, (n. 1. 8. v. 438.) Some in a fringe the burnish'd ferpents roll'd When in her wrath fhe takes the fatal field; All charged with curling fnakes the bofs they rais'd, * V.993. K 4 (Pitt. n. 8. v. 590.) 2 V. 1423. Now Now there are here two features, which ascertain in my opinion the marked imitation of the Roman Poet from the Græcian Tragedian; The Ægis is not only fringed with ferpents, but the Gorgon is alfo fixed on the breast of the Goddefs Both thefe ftriking circumstances are omitted by Ho mer in his defcription of the aegis of Minerva in the fecond 3 and fifth Iliad: In the former of these paffages, he only mentions an hundred clafps without fpecifying their particu lar appendage; and in the latter, he throws round her shoul ders the well-clafped ægis, as her fhield: Our English Tranf lator in both thefe inftances has fupplied the abfence of ferpents in the original : 4 Round the vast orb an hundred ferpents roll'd, Form'd the bright fringe, and feem'd to burn in gold. Round the margin roll'd, A fringe of ferpents hiffing guards the gold. (B. 5. v. 913.) This addition he acknowledges in his note on the last paffage, and obferves from Spondanus, that "Homer does not particularly defcribe this fringe of the ægis, as confifting of ferpents; but that it did fo may be learned from Herodotus in his fourth book: The Greeks, fays he, borrowed the garment and ægis of the ftatues of Minerva from the Libyans, only with this difference, that among the Libyans the garment was of leather, and the clafps of the ægis were not ferpents, but made of thongs of leather: In all other 3 V. 447. 4 V. 738. refpects refpects they are fashioned in the fame manner: The name moreover proves, that the ftole of Minerva's ftatues comes from Libya: For the Libyan women wear over the rest of their apparel a plain goat's fkin, fringed and dyed with red: and the Græcians from these goatskins have denominated their ægis 5" I have not only varied in this tranflation of Herodotus from that inferted in Mr. Pope's Homer to render it more exact; but I have alfo enlarged the quotation in order to fhew his derivation of the word. Diodorus Siculus varies in his account, and represents the ægis, as the name of the monster, which Minerva flew: This he defcribes "as a beast extremely terrible, and difficult to be conquered; for it was the offspring of the earth, and naturally vomited inces fant fire from its mouth :" After tracing the progress of its horrible ravages from Mount Taurus to Libya, he adds, "that partly by the prudence and partly by the valour of this Goddess she vanquished it; and then for the covering and fecurity of her body against future dangers, as well as for a monument of her deferved reputation, she wore the skin of it, fastened round her breaft':" This affertion exactly corresponds with that of Euripides in the preceding line. But other Roman Poets, as well as Virgil, have also given the 5. Εκ δε τῶν ἀιγέων τετέων αἰγίδες οἱ Ἕλληνες μελωνόμασαν. (1. 4. c. 189. p. 285. ed. Gale.) There is alfo a third reason for this ægis, affigned by Tzetzes on Lycophron: This Commentator declares, that when Minerva contended with Pallas, Daughter of Triton, Jupiter during the conteft difplayed his ægis: This circumftance enabled Minerva to kill her Antagonist, as the caft her eyes upon it: The Goddefs, afterwards concerned for her death, prepared a little image refembling her, and wore it on her bofom, which they called the ægis. (On V. 355-) 7 Τὴν δορὰν αὐτε περιαψαμένην φορεῖν τῷ σήθει. (1. 3. fec. 69. vol. I. p. 239. ed. Wetlel.) poetical poetical appendage of fnakes to Minerva : Thus Claudian paints her, Gorgoncifque premens affibilat hydris. (De Rap. Profer, 1. 3. v. 225.) And Valerius Flaccus reprefents her ægis, Hence alfo Milton, What was that fnaky-headed Gorgon-fhield 8 (Mask. V. 447.) Engravings of this military Goddess, thus accoutered, may be feen in Montfaucon : We learn from Euripides in this play, that he was alfo invoked under the title of Topyopóva, or the Gorgon-flayer. (V. 1478.) Verfe 1048. Eivodía. N° XXXVII. 1089. Propitious Regent of each publick way. THE Deity, here invoked by the Chorus under the appellation of Eivodía, is Proferpine or Hecate: The fame epithet again occurs in the Helena' of our Poet, and is alfo ufed by Sophocles in his Antigone 2: It implies the Patronefs Vol. 1. 1. 3. c. 10. pl. 78, 79, 80. & c. 11. pl. 81. 2 V. 576. 2 V. 1215. of |