pro Scholiaft on Apollonius Rhodius confirms this custom of pregnant women discharging themselves 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 immortality, from this circumftance. Homer makes Ulyffes affert in the Odyssey, 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 fe ceram & teneram palmam vidiffe dixit, hodie monftrant eandem: The fame was still visible in the days of Pliny 10; Nec non palma Deli ab ejufdem Dei ætate confpicitur. The Reader, who is aftonished 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 nofter, et femper manebit, fata eft enim ingenio; nullius autem agricolæ cultu ftirps tam diuturna, quam poetæ verfu seminari poteft:" This, my dear Atticus, ftill exifts, and for ever will exift, fince it is fown by Genius: 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. 1.) On 1, 1. v. 1131. This paffage is cited by Brodeus, in Ion. Annot. p. iii, Callim. Hym. in Apol. v. 4. & Hym. in Del. v. 210. See the Note of Spanheim on this last paffage. L. 6. v. 163. ? De Leg. l. 1, C. I, 19 Hift, Nat. 1. 16. c. 44. f. 89, No. XXXVI. N° XXXVI. Verfe 996. Ην Αιγίδ ̓ ὀνομάζεσι Παλλάδος ςολήν. THE Ægis of Minerva, here described as her breaft-plate, is reprefented 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 clafped 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, (Æn. 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, Now there are here two features, which afcertain in my opinion the marked imitation of the Roman Poet from the Græcian Tragedian: The gis is not only fringed with ferpents, but the Gorgon is alfo fixed on the breaft of the Goddess: Both thefe ftriking circumstances are omitted by Homer in his defcription of the ægis of Minerva in the fecond 3 and fifth Iliad: In the former of thefe paffages, he only mentions an hundred clafps without fpecifying their particu lar appendage; and in the latter, he throws round her fhoulders the well-clafped ægis, as her shield: Our English Translator 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 describe this fringe of the aegis, 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 aegis 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 also 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 inceffant 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 fhe 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, fhe wore the skin of it, fastened round her breaft":" This affertion exactly correfponds with that of Euripides in the preceding line. But other Roman Poets, as well as Virgil, have alfo given the 5 Ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἀιγέων τωτέων αἰγίδες οἱ Ἕλληνες μελωνόμασαν. (1. 4. c. 189. p. 285. ed. Gale.) • There is also a third reason for this ægis, affigned by Tzetzes on Lycophron This Commentator declares, that when Minerva contended with Pailas, 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 Goddess, 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 αὐτῷ περιαψαμένην φορεῖν τῷ σήθει. (1. 3. fec. 69. vol. 1. p. 239. ed. Wetfel.) poetical poetical appendage of fnakes to Minerva: Thus Claudian paints her, Gorgoneifque 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-shield 8 (Mask. V. 447.) Engravings of this military Goddess, thus accoutered, may be seen in Montfaucon : We learn from Euripides in this play, that he was also invoked under the title of Topyopova, or the Gorgon-flayer. (V. 1478.) Verfe 1048. Εἰνοδία. N° XXXVII. 1089. Propitious Regent of each publick way. THE Deity, here invoked by the Chorus under the appellation of Evodia, is Proferpine or Hecate: The fame epithet again occurs in the Helena' of our Poet, and is also ufed by Sophocles in his Antigone: It implies the Patronefs 8 Vol. I. 2 V. 576. 1. 3. c. 10. pl. 78, 79, 80. & c. 11. pl. 81: 2 V. 1215. of |