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 de-rived her title of Tgloyers, as he is called in the hymn to Pallas, attributed to Homer: And Diodorus Siculus exprefsly tells us, that from this circumftance fhe was named Tritonis: Thus Lucan, Et fe dilectâ Tritonida dixit ab undâ. 2 (L. 9. v. 354.) The Heroines of Libya, according to Apollonius 3 Rhodius, bathed the Goddess in the ftream of Triton, when the iffued from the head of her Father: And Efchylus calls it her native river. According to Herodotus, the Inhabitants near the lake Tritonis celebrated a feftival in honour of Minerva, as their native Goddefs, and chiefly facrificed to her. The Reader may confult Meurfius in his Regnum Atticum on this fubject. C. 4. I Odyff. ed. Clarke. vol. 2. p. 758. 2 L. 3. fect. 69. ed. Weffel. vol. I. p. 238. 3 Argon. 1. 4. v. 1310. 5 L. 4. c. 180. & 187. 4 Eum. v. 293. K NO XXXIII. 3 5 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 xgvonóμas, 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 obferves, "that this epithet has a fingular propriety in allufion to his folar rays, fince he is goounds of a golden countenance." That Apollo was thus reprefented by the Artifts, appears from Montfaucon, who fays of the Tyrant Dionyfius, "that he robbed a flatue of this God of his golden hair :" There is no reafon 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. 1 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. 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, 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 fplendour of his golden head-drefs. Dr. Muf grave correfponds with me in opinion; and directs us in his Note to the epithet of xpuocnouas, ufed by our Poet in his Troades, and by Aristophanes in his Birds 10, where in both places it is applied to Apollo. N° XXXIV. Verfe 889. Φάρεσιν ἔδρεπον. As the vermeil flowers 929. I gather'd in my veft. THIS rural employment of Creufa with the confequences attending it recalls to our mind, 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; (Met. 5. v. 599.) Eftuat ante alias avido fervore legendi (De Rap. Profer. 1. 2. car. 34. v. 139.) We alfo learn from the Scholiaft of Apollonius Rhodius, reciting the teftimony 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. 1. v. 207.) See alfo Cicero in Verrem. 1. 4. c. 48. N° XXXV. Verfe 920. N° XXXV. Δάφνας Ἔρνεα φοίνικα πὰρ ἁβροκόμαν. And the laurel boughs 951. With the soft foliage of the palm o'erhung. I THE Laurel tree and the Palm are both again mentioned in our Author's Hecuba and Iphigenia ' in Tauris, as affording their joint affistance to Latona3 in her act of parturition: For the Goddefs 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 fhe is going to produce Apollo and Diana." To this obfervation we may add the authority of Ælian", "that Latona at Delos, having grafped the Olive and the Palm, was inftantly delivered, though before she was unable to accomplish it." The I V. 458 & 459. 2 V. 1099 & 1100. 3 The Italian Tranflator Carmeli has abfurdly mistaken the sense 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, Strignendo tu l'alloro. (tom. 9. p.131.) 4 Anal. of Ant. Mythol. On Phoenix. vol. I. p. 321. › Var. Hist. 1. 5. c. 4. |