Strange ftuff this! But the original is corrupted.

Pofterius, cui Demophoon æterna reliquit

Perfidiam lamentandi mala, perfida multis.

See Scaliger. Phyllis, thinking she was forfaken. by Demophoon, hanged herself, fay fome, and was changed in amygdalum. She died of grief, fay others, and where fhe was buried, trees fprung up, which at certain times mourn her death, by fhedding their leaves. See Hyginus, Fab. LIX. Ovid. Art. Amat. III. 37. Remed. 55. and 591. Hence may be gueffed what tree it is that the author of the Culex fpeaks of.

IBID.

Whom als accompanied the oak, of yore Through fatal charms transform'd to fuch an one.

He is mistaken here.

Quam comitabantur fatalia carmina quercus.

Fatalia carmina, fatidica quercus, paulwders Nam in Dodona reddebant oraculum. SCALIGER.

Here also grew the rougher-rinded pine,
The great Argoan fhip's brave ornament,
Whom golden Fleece did make an heavenly fign;
Which coveting, with his high top's extent,
To make the mountains touch the ftars divine,
Decks all the foreft with embellishment.

This is fcarce fenfe.

Hic magnum Argo navi decus edita pinus,
Proceras decorat filvas hirfuta per artus ;
Appetit aëreis contingere montibus aftra.

Perhaps it fhould be

-pinus,

Proceras decorans filvas, hirfuta per artus,
Appetit aëreis contingere montibus aftra.

This conjecture came into Scaliger's mind; but he rejected it.

The meaning of the laft line feems to be, that the pine, a tall tree, growing alfo on the mountains, ftrives to reach the sky,

Ovid, Met. I. 94.

Nondum cafa fuis, peregrinum ut viferet orbem,
Montibus, in liquidas pinus defcenderat undas.

Catullus, de Nupt. Pel. et Thet. v. 1.

Peliaco quondam prognate vertice pinus
Dicuntur liquidas, &c.

See Homer, II. II. 482. quoted before, p. 102,

Burman conjectures,

Appetit aëris contingere frontibus aftra.

Not. ad Ovid, Met. X. 91.

STAN Z.

STANZ. XXXIV.

When as at last he spide

That flock's grand captain, and most trufty guide.

Cum videt ingens

Adverfum recubare ducem gregis.

He tranflates as if it were ingentem.

STAN Z. XLIII.

And spoil'd of Charon, to and fro am toft.

He has not well exprefs'd,

Prada Charontis agor.

STANZ.

XLVI.

I faw another's fate approaching faft,
And left mine own his fafety to tender;
Into the fame mishap I now am cast,

And shunn'd destruction doth deftruction render:
Not unto him that never hath trefpaft,
But punishment is due to the offender.
Yet let deftruction be the punishment,
So long as thankful will may it relent.

This is fufficiently obfcure. The original indeed is in bad cafe.

Inftantia vidi

Alterius, fine refpectu mea fata relinquens.
Ad pariles agor eventus: fit pæna merenti:
Pana fit exitium: modo fit dum grata voluntas,
Exiftat par officium.

Pana fit exitium, modo, fi cui grata voluntas,
Exiftat par officium.

Age plectar fane, et mihi poena pro beneficio fit; dum tamen fi cui gratus animus eft, is parem gratiam mihi referat. Si qua eft gratia, mutuis officiis me remuneretur." SCAL.

Spenfer makes fafety a word of three fyllables,

his faféty to tender.

He does fo very often. See Fairy Queen, II. x. 64. II. X11. 17. III. v. 36. III. 1x. 40. III. x. 41 and 42. III. XII. 38. V. IV. 46. I. 1x. 1. I. XI. 33. VI. vI. 38. VI. v111. 34. In like manner he uses fettéled, fastened, ripened, attonément; and many other words.

For there huge Othos fits in fad diftrefs,
Fast bound with ferpents, that him oft invades ;
Far off beholding Ephialtes tide,

Which once affail'd to burn this world fo wide.

Nam

Nam vinctus fedet immanis ferpentibus Cthos,
Devictum mæftus procul adfpiciens Ephialten,
Conati quondam cum fint incendere mundum.

He tranflates devictum, tide, as if it were devinc tum. And Mundum, the World, which means Heaven. Perhaps procul here is not far off, but near; not far off. It should be, perhaps,

Conati quondam cum fint inscendere mundum.

To fcale the heavens. Every boy knows the ftory. Scaliger and Lindenbrogius are filent here, and I have no other commentator to confult. Inftead of "Which once affail'd," it should be perhaps, affay'd. Thus, Sonnet XIV.

Such haughty minds, enur'd to hardy fight,
Difdain to yield unto the first affay.

STANZ. XLVIII.

And there is mournful Tityus, mindful yet
Of thy displeasure, O Latona fair;

Displeasure too implacable was it,

That made him meat for wild fowls of the air.

Et Tityos, Latona, tuæ memor anxius ira,
Inplacabilis ira nimis, jacet alitis efca,

The last line is a filly and ambiguous tranflation of jacet alitis efca. His liver was gnawed by a

vultur.

STANZ.