STANZ. XX.

Therewith the fpew'd out of her filthy maw
A flood of poifon horrible and black,
Full of great lumps of flesh and gobbets raw,
Which stunk fo vildly-

Our poet paints very ftrong here, as he does alfo in this book, Canto VIII. 47. 48. where he defcribes Dueffa. Longinus would have blam'd him for it, who thus cenfures the author of the Afpis: Ὦ ἀνόμοιέν γε τὸ Ἡσιόδειον επι της Αχλύς, είγε Ησιόδο και τ' Ασπίδα ελέον,

Τῆς ἐκ μεν ῥινῶν μύξαι ρέον.

Οὐ γαρ δεινὸν ἐπόιησε τὸ ἔίδωλον, ἀλλὰ μισητόν.

Cui diffimile eft illud Hefiodi de Triftitia, fi quidem ftatuendum fit etiam poema illud dictum Scutum effe Hefiodi, Ejus ex paribus humores fluebant.

Neque enim fecit imaginem terribilem, fed odiofam,

As when old father Nilus 'gins to fwell
With timely pride above th' Ægyptian vale,
His fatty waves do fertile flime outwell,
And overflow each plain and lowly dale;

But

But when his latter ebb 'gins to avail,

Huge heaps of mud he leaves, wherein there breed : Ten thousand kinds of creatures, partly male And partly female of his fruitful feed.

Again, B. III. Canto VI. 8.

So after Nilus' inundation

Infinite shapes of creatures men do find,

Informed in the mud, on which the fun hath fhin'd.

Ovid. Met. I. 422.

Sic ubi deferuit madidos feptemfluus agros
Nilus, et antiquo fua flumina reddidit alveo,
Etherioque recens exarfit fidere limus ;
Plurima cultores verfis animalia glebis

Inveniunt, et in his quædam modo cœpta fub ipfum
Nafcendi fpatium; quædam imperfecta, fuifque
Trunca vident numeris: et eodem in corpore fæpe
Altera pars vivit; rudis eft pars altera tellus.

Theophraftus, p. 474. Ὅτι ἐν Αιγύπτῳ διποδάς φασι μας γίνεσθαι καὶ μεγάλες. ἔχεσι δὲ ἔτοι καὶ τὰς ἐμπροσθίας ποδας, ἀλλ ̓ ἐ βαδίζεσιν ἐπ ̓ αὐτοῖς. χρῶνται δὲ αὐτοῖς, οῖα χερσὶν. ὅταν δὲ φευγωσι, πηδῶσε.

Ferunt in Egypto magnos illos bipedes mures nafci, habere autem et anteriores pedes, fed illis non incedere: imo uti pro manibus, faltu vero fugere.

Plutarch

Plutarch. Sympof. II. p. 637. Ed. Paris. Zŵa di αὐτοτελῆ καὶ ὁλόκληρα μέχρι νῦν ἀναδίδωσιν ἡ γῆ, μᾶς ἐν Αιγύπλῳ,

Animalia autem perfecta et integra hodieque terra parit: mures in Ægypto, &c.

Macrobius, VII. 16. Perfecta autem in exordio fieri potuiffe teftimonio funt nunc quoque non pauca animantia, quæ de terra et imbre perfecta nafcuntur: ut in Egypto mures, et aliis in locis rana, ferpentefque, &c.

ge

Mela, I. 9. Nilus-adeo efficacibus aquis ad nerandum, ut-glebis etiam infundat animas, ex ipfaque humo vitalia effingat, &c.

Ælian. de Animal. VI. 41.

Spenfer rightly calls the Nile Father. Pater is an appellation common to all rivers, but more parti cularly to the Nile, as Broukhufius has obferved on Tibullus, I. VIII. 23. and many before him.

STANZ. XXXIV.

Thereby a crystal stream did gently play, Which from a facred fountain welled forth alway.

So

So facri fontes frequently occur in the ancient poets. They are called divini in some inscriptions: Aristophanes, Nub. 282.

Καὶ ποταμῶν ζαθέων κελαδήματα,

Heads of rivers and fountains had temples and altars erected to them, and other divine honours, paid to them. See Gruter's Infcript. No 94. 1072. Fabretti, p. 432. Spon. Mifc. Erud. Ant. p. 31. Cicero de Nat. Deor. III. 20. and Davies there. Frontinus, de Aquæd. p. 225. Tacitus, Annal. XIV. 22. and Lipfius there. Seneca, Epift. XLI. Paufañías, VI. 22. Scamander's Priest, 'Agnlng Exaμávdgy, mentioned by Homer, II. E.77. Horace, Carm. III.

Hefiod. Egy. 737.

Μηδέ πολ ̓ ἀενάων ποταμῶν καλλίῤῥοον ύδωρ

Ποσσι περᾷν, πρίν γ' ἔυξῃ ἴδων ἐς καλὰ ῥέεθρα, χειρας νιψάμενος πολυηράτῳ ὕδατι λευκῷ.

Nec unquam perennium fluviorum limpidam aquam Pedibus tranfito, priufquam oraveris adfpiciens pulchro flumina,

Manus lotus amena aqua limpida.

What follows is ftill better, 757.

Μηδέ πολ ̓ ἐν προχοῇ ποταμῶν ἅλαδε προρεόντων,
Μηδ' επὶ κρηνάων ἐρειν· μάλα δ' ἐξαλέασθαι.
Μηδ' ἐναποψύχειν.

Neque

Neque unquam in alveo fluviorum mare influentium,
Neque fuper fontes meito; quin valde evitato.
Neque incacato.

This was part of the religion of the Perfians. Herodotus I. 138. Ἐς ποταμὸν δὲ ὅτε ἐνδρέωσι, ἔτε ἐμπλύεσι, ο χειρας ἐναπονίζονται, ἐδὲ ἄλλον ἐδένα περιορῶσις ἀλλὰ σέβονται πολαμές μάλιςα. In fumen nec immeiunt, nec infpuunt, nec manus abluunt, nec alium ifta facientem negligunt, fed flumina religiofiffime colunt.

Strabo. Εἰς γαρ ποταμὸν ἐτ' ἐξὅσιν, ἔτε νίπονται Πέρ σαι, ἐδὲ λέονται, ἐδὲ νεκρὸν ἐκβάλλεσι, εδ' ἄλλα τῶν δο κόντων είναι μυσαρῶν. Influvium Perfe non immeiunt, nec lavant, nec abluuntur, nec cadaver injiciunt, nec alia quæ immunda effe videantur. Vid. Herodot. p. 588. Ed. Gronov.

Then chufing out few words moft horrible,
(Let none them read) thereof did verfes frame,
With which, and other fpells like terrible,
He bad awake black Pluto's griefly dame,

A bold bad man, that dar'd to call by name Great Gorgon, prince of darkness and dead night, At which Cocytus quakes, and Styx is put to flight

Gorgon