The holm, the yew of deadly juice, and oak,
By time uninjur'd, bow beneath their stroke; 140
The alder, wont to cleave the billowy flood,
And ash, that soon will drink of human blood,
The fir, th' uncultur'd ash, on mountains found,
The pine, that breathes forth fragrance from each
wound,

151

And married elm, around whose trunks the vine
Her tendrils folds, to earth their heads decline.
Earth greans. Such vasty heaps of waste o'erspread
Mount Ismarus, when Boreas lifts his head
From his burst cave :-not with such rapid force
Red sheets of nightly flame pursue their course
O'er forests, aided by the fanning wind.
Sylvanus, Pales, and the mongrel kind
Of satyrs quit with grief their seats of ease,
Soft gurgling rills, cool grots and shady trees;
Deep groans the forest, as they take their leave:
Close to the trees th' embracing dryads cleave.
Thus, when some leader to the soldiers' rage
Resigns a captive town, they all engage
In quest of spoil, and ere the trumpets sound,
The plunder'd city's scarcely to be found.
They fell, they bear away, they load the cars;
Scarce such a din attends the work of Mars.
And now their equal toil two altars rais'd
Of equal height: one to the immortals blaz'd,
And t'other to the cheerless ghosts of Hell,
When the grave pipe proclaim'd the fun'ral knell,
Mix'd with the crooked horn.-In ancient time
This mode prevail'd o'er Phryzia's ample clime.
Pelops, as Fame reports, this rite proclaim'd
For lesser shades, and mournful dirges fram'd,
Such as were heard, when Niobe of old
To Sypilos twelve urns, disfigur'd, roll'd.

I funebri cipressi, e i pini, e i cerri,
L'elci frondose, egli alti abeti, e i faggi,
Gli olmi mariti, a cui tal' or s'appoggia
La vite, e con piè torto al ciel s'en poggia.
Altri i tassi, e le querce altri percote,
Che mille volte rinovar le chiome,
E mille volte ad ogni incontro immote
L'ire de' venti han rintuzzate, e dome :
Ed altri impose alle stridenti rote
D'orni, e di cedri e' odorate some;
Lasciano al suon dell' arme al vario grido
E le fere, e gli augei, la tana, e'l nido.

160

171

Jerus. del. c. 3. v. 76.

The editor of Pitt's Virgil, in a note on the following verses of Virgil,

Itur in antiquam sylvam, stabula alta ferarum: Procumbunt picea; sonat icta securibus ilex, Fraxineæque trabes, cuneis et fissile robur Scinditur; advolvunt ingentes montibus ornos: observes, that the difference between the genius of Virgil and Statius is very visible on this occasion. The latter of whom minutely, and at length,

describes the different sorts of trees that were cut

down to make the funeral pile for Archemorus. While Virgil observes his usual and preguant brevity, knowing he had not leisure to dwell on this subject, merely for the sake of a florid description. It is observable, that Tasso has imitated Statius in this very particular.

172. To Sypilos] A river, into which Niobe was said to be metamorphosed, after she was slain by Phoebus and Diana,

The Grecian princes at the head appear 1
The burial-gifts and sacrifice they bear,
And name aloud in titles of renown
The pious honours of their state or town.
The fun'ral bed, a length of time between,
On youthful shoulders moves (a solemn scene),
The king selected them with cautious care:
A shout uncouth succeeds and rends the air. 180
The peers of Lerna safe enclose their king:
The softer sex, as num'rous, form a ring
Around the mother: next the Lemnian queen,
Encircled by no slender troop, is seen:
Not mindless of the past, th' Inachian train
Intrench the mournful fair: her sons sustain
Her livid arms, and pleas'd that she is found,
Indulge her plaints, nor set her grief a bound.
There, soon as sad Eurydice, bereft

Of all her joys, the ill-omen'd dome had left, 190
From her bare breasts these artless accents broke,
And, with long shricks prefacing, thus she spoke.
"My son, I hop'd not to have follow'd here,
Surrounded with Argolic dames, thy bier;
Nor, frantic as I was, thy infant years
Once made a part of these my hopes and fears:
Nought cruel I fore-ween'd, for at this age
How could the Theban war my thoughts engage!
What god, however sanguine to destroy,
Would spill our blood in combat for his joy? 200
What drew this curse upon us? Whence arose
Such ills? No slaughter'd babes disturb our foes.
Of tears and slaughter I've the first fruits found,
Before the sword is drawn, or trumpets sound;
While, void of thought, and fond, too fond of rest,
I trust my infant to another's breast.
What could I do? She spread a tale abroad,
Of her old sire, preserv'd by pious fraud.
Lo! the great heroine, who sole abjur'd
The mischief, vow'd by oath, and safe secur'd
Her parent from the furious Lemnian train! 211
Still does this daring dame your faith retain ?
Was she so pious, who in desert grove
Could leave the product of another's love,
Expos'd on all sides, in a dang'rous place,
Where no huge snake of Python's monstrous race
Was needful to destroy? Th' inclement skies,
And empty terrours might alone suffice.
Nor can I blame you.-This disastrous curse
Was fated by the choice of such a nurse.
Yet wast thou kind, my son, to her alone,
The fonder parent was as yet unknown:
No mother's joys I reap'd of thee: her call
Was listen'd to, in preference of all.
How sweet thy plaints, thy laughter mixt with tears,
And murmurs must have sounded in her ears,
When first thy tongue essay'd the speech of man!
With thee a mother's office she began,
I finish it. But shall she thus offend,
Unpunish'd, and will ye her crimes befriend, 230

220

fit of revenge, made several attempts to kill Hyp 185. Not mindless of the past] Lycurgus, in a sipyle, as the authoress of his son's death through her negligence. See the last byøk, verse 945.

209. Lo! the great heroine] Dido casts a like sncering reflection on Eneas, after she had discovered his intentions of leaving her.

En dextra fidesque Quem secum patrios aiunt portare penates, 2uem subiisse humerum confectum ætate paren tum ! Book 4. verse 597.

O chiefs? Why bring ye these? The fun'ral pyre,
And burial rites no useless gifts require.
Her, O ye chiefs! (his manes ask no more)
Her to a childless mother's rage restore,
By this first rage of war:-so may each dame
Of Thebes lament a son of equal fame."
Her tresses then she tore, and thus renew'd
Her pray'rs." Restore, nor think my soul indu'd
With savage principles, so expire,
With vengeance cloy'd, and feed the self-same fire."
While thus she spake, at distance she beheld 241
Hypsipyle, whose grief no reason quell'd,
On hair and bosom vented.-This espy'd,
Ill brooking partnership in woe, she cry'd,
"This crime at least, ye peers, and thou, O king,
To whom new honours from our ruin spring,
This crime forbid, and bear the traitress hence.
Her presence gives the sacred shade offence.
Why in these sorrows does she bear a part,
And with fresh anguish rend a parent's heart? 250
What alien's child can she with truth bemoan,
While thus in close embrace she grasps her own?"
This said, she swoons: her plaints abruptly cease,
And the fair mourner sunk to sudden peace.
Thus when some cruel swaiu, or beast of prey
Has born a heifer's half-wean'd young away,
Whose strength and vital juices were sustain'd
By milky nutriment, and udders drain'd,
The childless parent to the vales complains,
And questions rivers, herds, and lonely plains: 260
She loaths her home, retires from field the last,
Nor ere she parts, indulges the repast.
But on the pile the sire his sceptre lays,
And casts the thund'rer's honours in the blaze;
He then curtails the locks, that scatter'd flow
Adown his back and breasts, a sign of woe,

Gaudent ibi vertice raso

270

And strewing o'er the infant, as he lies,
Weeps pious tears, and thus, impassion'd, cries.
"These ringlets, by a former contract vow'd,
On thee, perfidious Jove, I had bestow'd;
But since the priest deceiv'd me, and my pray'r
Was lost, these locks his worthier shade shall bear."
And now, a torch apply'd beneath, the fire
Cracks on the leafy summit of the pyre.
Scarce can they drive his furious friends away:
The Grecians straight the king's command obey,
And, standing with protended arms between,
Exclude the parents from the mournful scene.
Vulcan grows rich: no ashes e'er before
Were deck'd with such a mass of various ore. 280
The silver melts; the gems and rich attire
With gold embroider'd, crackle in the fire.
The planks of hardest oak are scented o'er
With Syrian juices: and the honey'd store
Of many a hive, and costly saffron crown'd
The heap. Full bowls of milk are hung around.
From vessels boat-wise form'd, they pour a flood
Of milk yet smoking, mix'd with sable blood.
The Grecian princes then in order led
Sev'n equal troops, to purify the dead;
Around the pile an hundred horsemen ride
With arms revers'd, and compass ev'ry side:
They fac'd the left (for so the rites require)
Bent with the dust, the flames no more aspire.
Thrice, thus dispos'd, they wheel in circles round
The hallow'd corse: their clashing weapons sound.
Four times their arms a crash tremendous yield,
And female shrieks re-echo thro' the field.
Another pile, high-heap'd with burning wood, 299
For slaughter'd herds and reeking victims stood.
The prophet warning them to cease their woes,
And sign of a new fun'ral, though he knows
Each omen true, all wheeling to the right,
Return: their brandish'd arms reflect the light.

290

279. Vulcan grows rich: no ashes e'er before] This part of the ceremonies is copied by Chaucer in his Palamon and Arcite, which I shall give the reader in Mr. Dryden's words.

Rich jewels in the flames the wealthy cast,
While the devouring fire was burning fast;
And some their shields, and some their lances threw,
And gave the warrior's ghost a warrior's due.
Full bowls of wine, of honey, milk, and blood,
Were pour'd upon the pile of burning wood,
And kissing flames receive, and hungry lick the food.
Then thrice the mounted squadrons ride around
The fire, and Arcite's name they thrice resound:
"Hail and farewell," they shouted thrice amain :
Thrice facing to the left, and thrice they turn'd again.
Still as they turn'd, they beat their clatt'ring shields;
The women mix their cries, and clamour fills the
fields.

Virgil mentions the same circumstances in the funeral rites of Pallas, Æneas, 11.

Ter circum accensos, cincti fulgentibus armis,
Decurrêre rogos; ter moestum funeris ignein
Lustravere in equis, ululatusque ore dedere.
Spargitur et tellus lachrymis, sparguntur et arma.
It cœlo clamorque virûm, clangorque tubarum.
Hinc alii spolia occisis direpta Latinis
Conjiciunt igni galeasque, ensesque decoros,
Franaque, ferventesque rotas; pars, munera nota,
Ipsorum clypeos, et non felicia tela, Ver. 188.

Each warrior there some grateful off'ring tost,
As fancy dictates: one a bit emboss'd,
Another in the blaze a helmet threw,
A belt or spear, that lighten'd, as it flew.
Each adverse field in concert hoarse replies:
The groves are fray'd with their repeated cries; 310
While the loud clarion and shrill-sounding horn
Pierce the quick ear with clangours scarcely
borne.

Such two vast armies at the trumpet's sound,
Ere to its highest pitch their wrath is wound
By loss of blood, or slaughter dies the spear,
All beautiful with equal arms appear:
Involv'd in clouds, the pow'r of battle stands,
And doubts, on whom to turn his conqu'ring hands.
The rites were clos'd, and Vulcan's fury gone,
A heap of ashes now remain'd alone,
When, drawing near the fire, a copious show'r
Of water on the smould'ring pile they pour.
With early dawn their pious toils begun,
And scarcely ended with the setting Sun.
Nine times had Phosphor from the realms of light
Chac'd the dew-silv'ring stars and vanquish'd
night,

320

331

And nine times, harbinger of Cynthia's reign,
Had chang'd his courser.-By the conscious train
Of stars, that glitter round the radiant Moon,
He's known to be the same at morn and noon:
When, sacred to the babe, a tomb arose,
Which art and speed at once united shows:
Stone was the structure. In a range display'd,
The scenes of his sad hist'ry were pourtray'd.
The princess here the thirsty Grecians guides,
To where Langia rolls his secret tides.
There creeps the luckless infant, there he lies:
The serpent writhes his spires of hideous size
Around the verge. You might expect to hear
Him hiss, so well he clasps the marble spear. 340
Now Fame invites the vulgar to the sight
Of sportive contests, and a bloodless fight:
Rous'd at the call, they quit the fields and town;
E'en those, to whom war's horrours are unknown,
Whom life's exhausted prime confin'd at home,
Shake off old age, and leave their peaceful dome.
Ne'er were such crowds on th' Ephyræan shore,
Or circus of Oenomaus before.
With crooked hills, and trees begirt above,
A vale subsides, the centre of a grove.
Rough, thorny ridges lie around, which yield
A length of shade, and bound it from the field;
Then hillocks, rising through a vast extent
Of grassy turf, increase the steep ascent.
There, soon as Phoebus mark'd the sylvan scene
With ruddy streaks, the martial troops convene :
'Twas pleasure there to measure with their eyes
The number, looks, and habits of th' allies
Amid the mingled crowd.-In wonder lost,
They view the strength and ardour of their host.
A hundred bulls of dusky hue they brought, 361
The flow'r of all the herd, and never wrought;
Then cows in number and in hue the same,
And heifers, not yet horn'd, loud-bellowing, came.

350

328. The ancients thought Phosphor and Vesper were not the same individual stars, as they have a different appearance at their rising; which the poet attributes to their changing horses. He says, therefore, that the stars are not deceived like mortals, who supposed that they were two distinct stars.

380

In order then the statues of their sires
Are borne along: the gazing crowd admires
Their life-resembling form and sculptur'd deeds.
Great Hercules the mute procession leads:
To the fell Nemean savage short of breath,
He fronts his breast, and lifts the arm of death.
The Greeks with some degree of horrour ey'd $71
The brazen hero, tho' their badge and pride.
Next, on the left, in order they discern
Old Inachus, who pours abroad his urn,
And, stretch'd beneath a lofty bank of reeds,
Surveys his stream slow-gliding thro' the meads.
Ready for dalliance, lo stands behind;
Heart-piercing anguish touch'd the parent's mind,
As he view'd Argus, starr'd with watchful eyes:
But the more grateful ruler of the skies
Prepar'd a temple on the Pharian shore,
And bade Aurora the new pow'r adore.
Then Tantalus (not he who's feign'd to lean
O'er streams untouch'd, or starve amidst the scene
Of plenty, but the thund'rer's pious guest)
Appears above the lot of mortals blest.
At distance conqu'ring Pelops guides the reins
Of Ocean's god, and thunders o'er the plains:
False Myrtil leaves' unpinn'd the chariot-wheels,
And life and vict'ry from his master steals.
Amidst the rest was sage Acrisius seen,
Choræbus, warrior of terrific mien,
Fair Danae, who blames her guilty breast,
And Amymone, in the stream distrest:
Alcmena too the young Alcides bears;
A triple moon confines her braided hairs.
The wrangling sons of Belus join their hands
In impious leagues. More mild in aspect stands

590

365. In order then] Though nothing could be better contrived to excite virtue in the breasts of the Grecian princes and leaders, than this exhibi tion of the statues and images of their ancestors, yet I fear it will be thought too long, and had it not been in a book entirely devoted to de-cription, it would have been absolutely unpardonable.

377. Ready for dalliance, lo stands behind] The daughter of Inachus, whom Jupiter loved, and lest his wife Juno should know it, he turned lo into an heifer jealous Juno suspected it, and begged the heifer of her husband, and set Argus (one that had an hundred eyes) to keep her: Jupiter could not refrain, but sent Mercury to kill Argus: June, in revenge, sent a gad-fly that stung her and made her mad, so that she ran to Egypt, where her old form came to her again, and she was married to Osiris; after her death, the Egyptians deified and worshipped her by the name of Isis, usually sacri ficing unto her a goose: when they worshipped they used to call lo, Io, whence arose that proverb. The occasion of the poet's fiction concerning lo, whom they feigned to be turned into a cow, was this; Io being with child by a Phenician mariner, and fearing her father's displeasure, went with the Phenicians into Egypt in a ship which had a painted bull.

386. Appears above the lot] Horace mentions this mark of favour conferred by Jove on Tantalus.

Occidit et Pelopis genitor conviva Deorum. 396. A triple moon confines her braided hairs This triple moon was symbolical of Jupiter's excessive lust, who, when he lay with Alemena, commanded he Moon to make her nightly course thrice as long as usual.

411

For ne'er was a more gen'rous race of steeds
Colleated for the course on Grecian meads.
As if a num'rous flock of birds should try
Their active pow'rs, and wing the midway sky,
Or olus to the mad winds propose
The palm of swiftness, such a tumult rose.
Before them all was fleet Arion led,
Distinguish'd by his mane of fiery red:
From ocean's god (if ancient fame says true)
The gen'rous horse his honour'd lineage drew;
"Tis said, he rein'd him first with forming haud,
And curbing bit upon the dusty strand,

430

But spar'd the lash: for free he scours the plain,
Swift as the surge that skims along the main. 420
Oft in the car with other steeds, design'd
To swim the Lybian billows, was he join'd,
And train'd to carry his cerulean sire
To any coast.-The tardier clouds admire
His active strength, and each contending wind,
Notus or Eurus, follows far behind.
Amphytrion's val'rous son with equal speed
He bore, deep ruts inscrib'd upon the mead,
When for Eurystheus wars unjust he wag'd,
Yet fierce, unmanageably fierce he rag'd:
Then by the gift of Heav'n, Adrastus rein'd
The courser, and to his own service train'd;
Now, many cautions giv'n, the sire decreed
To Polynices' hands the mettled steed;
He teaches him, what arts will best assuage
His wrath, when chaf'd, and fir'd with em'lous rage.
"Give not the reins up freely, nor provoke
His headstrong fury with too frequent stroke:
With threats and spurs urge others to the course;
He'll go at will, and mock thy curbing force."
Thus Phoebus, when he lent the fiery rein,
And plac'd his offspring on the rapid wain,
With boding tears injoin'd-" Be wise, my son,
Th' untrampled zones and stars insidious shun."
With pious caution first the youth proceeds,
But fate at length sets free th' immortal steeds.
Fir'd with the prospect of the second prize,
Rapt by Oebalian steeds, the prophet flies:
Thy offspring, Cyllarus, by theft obtain'd,
When Castor on the Scythian coast remain'd, 450

441

405. First toil'd the coursers] We shall not be surprised to see Statius make this digression, to give us the history of his horses, when we consider to what excess the passion for fine racers is carried in our own times, and with what exactness and precision the news-papers give us their genealogy.

435. He teaches him] Nestor gives a similar caution to Antilochus in the 23d book of the Iliad, on which passage I shall refer the reader to Mr. Pope's observations, as they are equally applicable to this before us.

449. Thy offspring, Cyllarus] Frauds in the case of horses have been thought excusable in all times. Homer mentions an instance of one in the fifth book of the Iliad.

And chang'd Amycle's bridle for the oar.
A robe of snowy hue the augur wore:
White were his steeds, with trappings richly drest,
The same his helm, his mitre and his crest.
Admetus too, the blissful, from the meads
Of Thessaly, scarce curbs his barren steeds:
From seed of centaurs fame reports them sprung,
Nor can I disbelieve it, since so young,

They scorn th' embraces of the male: hence force
Invests their limbs, and vigour in the course: 460
Their sex they thus dissemble day and night,
Black spots are seen betwixt the streaks of white.
Such was the colour of each gen'rous steed,
Nor were they far inferior to the breed,
Which, list'ning to Apollo's tuneful lays,
Forgot their pasture, lost in wild amaze.
Lo! Jason's youthful sons too, whence new fame,
And added honours crown the mother's name,
Ascend the car, which either Thoas bore,
The grandsire's proper name in days of yore, 470
And call'd from Euneus' omen. They display,
Like features, chariots, horses and array;
The same their vows: each wish'd the palm his own,
Or by his brother to be won alone.

Next great Hippodamus and Chromis ride:
One was by birth to Hercules ally'd,

One to Oenomaus.-'Twas hard to read,
Which drove the most untam'd and headstrong

steed:

480

490

One guides the stud of Getic Diomed,
One those by his Pisæan father bred.
Dire trophies and the purple stain of war
With horrid filth begrime each hero's car.
In lieu of goals, an oak on one side stood,
Long shorn of leaves, a naked trunk of wood;
On t'other lay (a barrier of the ground)
A rocky fragment, plac'd 'twixt either bound;
Far as a dart at four times we may send,
But at three shots a shaft might reach the end.
Meanwhile Apollo charm'd the tuneful throng
Of sister-muses with celestial song:
The trembling strings responding to his hands
With silver sound, on highest Heav'n he stands,
And views Parnassian lands, his own domain.
The gods were first the subject of his strain:
To Jove and Phlegra oft his lyre he strung,
The Python, and his brother's honours sung,
And then explain'd, what pow'r the thunder drives,
Fed by what springs the boundless ocean lives;
Whence winds arise, stars glide along the sky,
And river-gods their empty urns supply:
What order guides the Sun's impetuous flight,
Contracts the day, and lengthens out the night;
Whether Earth lies the lowest, or between,
And close encompass'd by a world unseen.

500

Τῆς γάρ τοι γενεής, ἧς Τρωί περ εὐρύοπα Ζεὺς
Δώχ', υἱῷ ποινὴν Γανυμήδευς· ὅνικ' αριςοι
Ιππων, ὅσσοι έασιν ὑπ' ἐω τ' ἠέλιον τε.
Τῆς γενεῆς ἐκλέψεν άναξ ἀνδρῶν ̓Αγχίσης,
Λαθρη Λαομέδοντος ὑποσχών θήλεας ἵππες
Τῶν οἱ ἐξ ἐγένοντο ἐνὶ μεγάροισι γενέθλης.
V. 265.
And Virgil was so well pleased with it, as to in-
troduce it in the seventh Æneid,

Absenti Æneæ currum geminosque jugales,
Semine ab æthereo, spirantes naribus ignem:
Illorum de gente, patri quos Dædala Circe
Suppositâ de matre nothos furata creavit.
503. By a world unseen] The poet alludes here

510

This ended, he delays to hear the Nine
Attune their lay, and whilst he tries to twine
A wreath of well-earn'd laurel for his lyre,
And to the wind resigns his loose attire,
Not distant far, brought backward by their cries,
Nemea, belov'd of Hercules, he spies,
And there a goodly sight of gen'rous steeds,
Yok'd for the race, and traversing the meads.
He knew each princely rider:-near at hand
Admetus, and the prophet took their stand.
Then to himself he said. "What pow'r above,
Enrag'd against these objects of our love,
Hath urg'd them to dispute the prize of fame ?
Their pious deeds alike my favour claim.
I cannot well determine, which exceeds;
One, when I serv'd him in Thessalian meads, 520
(By Jove and Fate's impervious will constrain'd)
Burnt incense to his servant, nor disdain'd
The latent god; and one attends in part
My rites, a student of th' etherial art.
What tho' Admetus in desert transcend,
Yet honour we the seer's approaching end;
Late is his death, the fatal sisters give
A length of years: to thee no joys survive;
Thou know'st, the gloomy gulf of Thebes is near,
For oft our birds have sung it in thine ear." 530
He said, and scarce restrain'd the rising tears:
Then straight to Nemea his course he steers,
And gleams at ev'ry bound o'er all the skies;
More swift than his great father's bolt he flies,
Or his own shafts,-Long had he trod the plain,
Yet still the traces of his flight remain
Impress'd in Heav'n, and thro' the expanse serene
And zephyrs was a track of glory seen.
Now Prothous, by the rest commission'd, took
The brazen head-piece, and impartial shook 540

The lots together: these to all dispose
Their port and order, as th' inscription shows.
Now men and steeds, than which no time or place
Can greater boast, the god's acknowledg'd race,
Stand to one spot confin'd. Audacious fear
And paly hope in ev'ry face appear:
Doubtful, they tremble, yet contend to start,
And fev'rish dread invades their ev'ry part.
The steeds' and horses' ardour is the same: 549
Their quiv'ring eye-balls dart a ceaseless flame;
They champ the sounding bit, their mouths run o'er
With frothy foam.-Bars, gates, and rails no more
Oppose their progress, while their stifled ire,
And spirit curb'd in clouds of smoke transpire.
Thus rest inglorious galls each gen'rous heart:
A thousand steps are lost before they start,
And they forerun vast tracts of distant ground,
In prospect urg'd.-The faithful grooms surround,
Confirm their courage, smooth each tortur'd mane,
And point the goal out, they must first attain. 560
Soon as the trumpet had the signal giv'n,
They spring forth ail, with em'lous fury driv'n.
What weapons skim so thick th' embattled plain,
What clouds the Heav'ns, what sails the billowy
main?

Less swift are rivers, swoln with wintry show'rs,
Less swiftly Vulcan's wasting flame devours:
Compar'd with these, the stars, the storms are slow,
And torrents from the mountains tardier flow.
The Greeks beheld them start, and mark'd their
flight,

Now ravish'd on a sudden from their sight: 570
Mixt in the dust of the discolour'd field,
In one vast gloomy cloud they lie conceal'd,

Οι πεταλμένοι βραβεις Κλήροις επιπλαί, και κατέςησαν διφξεν.

The ancients say, that the charioteers started at the Sigæum, where the ships of Achilles lay, and ran towards the Phæteum, from the ships towards the shores. But Aristarchus affirined that they ran in the compass of ground five stadia (¿, e, about five furlongs) which lay between the wall and the tents towards the shore."

545. Audacious fear] So Virgil, speaking of the chariot-race, says,

-Spes arrectæ juvenum, exultantiaque haurit Georg. iii. v. 105. Corda pavor pulsans.

556. A thousand steps] Mr. Hurd, in his Discourse on Poetical Imitation, might have added this instance of Pope's close copying Statius to the examples he has given us, as I think it is ra In his ther more striking than any of them. Windsor Forest, speaking of the courser, he says, And ere he starts, a thousand steps are lost. Now it is clear that

Pereunt vestigia mille
Ante fugam,-

are the very words of Statius: and indeed they were so very literally translated by the celebrated author above mentioned, that I could not help rendering them in his own words.