Holy repast! That instant from the skies She waves her golden wand, and reassumes 475 At once his vestures change; at once she sheds Age o'er his limbs, that tremble as he treads: Lest to the queen the swain with transport fly, Unable to contain th' unruly joy. 481 When near he drew, the prince breaks forth; proclaim What tidings, friend? what speaks the voice of fame? Say, if the suitors measure back the main; Or still in ambush thirst for blood in vain ? 485 spear: 495 The prince, well pleas'd to disappoint their wiles, Steals on his sire a glance, and secret smiles. And now a short repast prepar'd, they fed, Till the keen rage of craving hunger fled: Then to repose withdrawn, apart they lay, And in soft sleep forgot the cares of day. 500 SELECT NOTES TO BOOK XVI. V. 1. Soon as the morning blush'd along the plains, &c.] This book opens with the greatest simplicity imaginable. Dionysius Halicarnassus quotes the sixteen first lines to this purpose: the poet, says that author, describes a low and vulgar action, yet gives it an inexpressible sweetness; the ear is pleased with the harmony of the poetry, and yet there is nothing noble in the sentiments. Whence, continues he, does this arise? from the choice of the words, or from the placing of them? No one will affirm that it consists in the choice of the words: for the diction is entirely low and vulgar; so vulgar, that a common artificer or peasant, who never studied elocution, would use it in conversation. Turn the verses into prose, and this will appear. There are no transpositions, no figures, no variety of dialect, nor any new and studied expressions. Where then is the beauty of the poetry? It must be entirely ascribed to the harmonious juncture and position of the words; and he concludes that the collocation' of words has a greater efficacy both in prose and poetry, than the 'choice.' V.3. ....... their meal prepare.] The word in the original is agorov, which here denotes very evidently the morning repast: it is used but in one other place in all Homer in this sense: Iliad, lib. xxiv. ver. 124. Εσσυμένως επενοντο και εντυνονίο αριστον. But we are not therefore to imagine that this was an unusual meal; Homer in other places expresses it by devov, as is observed by Athenæus, lib. i. Οι δ' αρα δειπνον ἑλοντ' απο δ' αυτε θωρήσσοντο 'At the dawn of the day they took repast and armed themselves for battle. The Greeks had three customary meals; which are distinctly mentioned by Palamedes in Eschylus, Άριστα, δείπνα, δορπαθ' αιρείσθαι τρίτα. Homer, adds Athenæus, mentions a fourth repast, lib. xvii. of the Odyssey: ...........συ δ' εςχεο δειελιησας. This the Romans called 'commessationem,' we a collation, a repast taken, as the same author explains it, between dinner and supper; the word is derived ano ang deiλng ofiaç, or 'the evening twilight. But Athenæus refutes himself, lib. v. p. 193. I have already (says he) observed that the ancients eat thrice a day; and it is ridiculous to imagine that they eat four times from these words of Homer, .... συ δ' ερχει δειελιησας. For that expression meant only that Eumæus should return in the evening, δειλινον διατρίψας χρονον. But this is not the full import of the word dixinoas, for it undoubtedly means, to take the evening repast or supper, as is evident from the conclusion of the seventeenth book of the Odyssey: 'Return,' says Telemachus to Eumæus, but first take refreshment:' and Eumæus accordingly eats; and the poet immediately adds, because the evening was come,' or εnλuße deleλov nμag. However, in no sense can this word be brought to prove that the Greeks eat four times in the day: but if any person will imagine, that it signifies in that place an immediate meal, all that can be gathered from it is, that Telemachus, out of kindness to Eumæus, commands him to eat before the usual hour of repast, before he leaves his palace: but Hesychius rightly interprets it by το δείλινον λαβων εμβρωμα, that is, eating his supper;' for as desπvov and agiotov signify the dinner, so dogov and devo denote the time of supper promiscuously. I will add no more, but refer the reader for a full explication of deπvov, and agiorov and deiλivov, to lib. viii. quest. 6 of Plutarch's Symposiacs. V. 14. Dropt the full bowl ........] In the original it is, Eumæus dropped the bowl as he tempered it with water. It was customary not to drink wine unmixed with water among the ancients. There was no certain proportion observed in the mixture: some to one vessel of wine poured in two of water; others to two of wine five of water. Homer tells us that the wine of Maron was so strong as to require twenty measures of water to one of wine: but perhaps this is spoken hyperbolically, to shew the uncommon strength of it. The Lacedæmonians used to boil their wine till the fifth part was consumed, and then keeping it four years, drank it: but sometimes the Grecians drank it without water (but this they called reproachfully inviol, or to act like a Scythian, from whom they borrowed the custom). It was usual even for children to drink wine thus tempered amongst the Grecians; thus in this book Eurymachus, And Phoenix in the ninth of the Iliad, speaking of Achilles, At Athens there was an altar erected to Bacchus og0.os, because from thus tempering the wine men returned' upright,' or sober, from entertainments; and a law was enacted by *Amphitryon, and afterwards revived by Solon, that no unmixed wine should be drank at any entertainment. V. 33. ........ if in the court the queen reside Severely chaste, or if commenc'd a bride.] Homer here makes use of a proverbial expression. It may thus be literally translated: 'Or say, if obstinate no more to wed, She dooms to spiders' nets th' imperial bed. Telemachus means by this question, if Penelope be determined no more to marry; for the marriage-bed was esteemed so sacred, * It is presumed that Amphictyon, who preceded Erichthonius on the throne of Athens, must here be meant. VOL. IV. |