Drew from the hollow'd bones the flutes ripe found. The diffonant rout re-ecchoed, as the dance And rich magnificence, the sumptuous east Alas how loft! nor thou, nor one of those Ver. 341. Touch'd, &c.] Lygdamis and the Cimmerians in the reign of Ardyes king of Lydia, invaded and over-ran all Afia minor, as Strabo tells us. They took Sardis, the metropolis of Lydia, but could never win the caftle. As Strabo and Herodotus are filent upon that head, I imagine what Hefychius fays, namely, "That Lygdamis burnt the temple of Diana," is not true; and Callimachus particularly fays, "He did not lay it wafte, he only threatned and led on his Cimmerians fo to do, aλanager: 335 340 345 Or for he fubjoins, mistaken prince, he tells us he erred from his defign TV! He perished in Cilicia, according to Strabo. The Cimmerians were the defcendants of Gomer, and the fame with the Gauls of Afia minor. Pliny speaking of them fays, Cimmerei populi feptentrionales funt, ad Bosporum ponti Euxini fretum habitantes: cujus ora curvatur in maotim, Seythia Paludem. See Univerfal Hiftory, vol. 1. p. 375. Or view their country more! DIANA's arms, GODDESS of ports, divine Munychia hail! 350 To rival in her arts the huntress queen : 355 For with no trivial mulet the proud presumption Of Atreus' fon fhe fin'd-Nor to their bed Let none decline the folemn choir to join, Ver. 352. Goddess, &c.] See the remarks on verse 46 above. She was called Munychia from Munychia at Athens, which the fcholiaft tells us 15 per te gains. The ftory of Oeneus is well known, that he neglected Diana in the facred rites, which he paid to all the deities, for which the incited his neighbours to raise a war against him, and besides On Oeneus fields fhe fent a monstrous boar, That levell'd harvests and whole forefts tore, according to Homer. Agamemnon's offence, Dictys Cretenfis tells us, was the booting a goat in the grove of Diana, a place held very facred. The price of which offence was no lefs than 360 his daughter. Moby, in the original is used for pæna, or rather, as I have rendered it, a mulɛ : Donatus obferves, Pretium pro ftultitia eft pæna, pretium pro virtute lucrum. Andria Act 3. S. 5. Ver. 359. Orion] Or Oarion, as he is frequently called amongst the poets, is faid to have attempted to ravish Diana. -Et integra fays Horace. See an ingenious hiftory of Orion in Banier's Mythology, vol. 4. b. 7. c. 7. Otus was one of the famous Aloides, who were flain, according to fome, by Diana in Naxos, for Orion's crime. End of the Hymn to DIANA. N From every TO DELOS. F facred DELOS, great APOLLO's nurse, When, when, my foul, or ever wilt thou fing? Each furnish theme divine: But DELOS firft Mufe demands the tribute lay, For that the firft their infant God receiv'd, 5 Hymn to Delos.] Hymns upon these popular occafions were a kind of prize poems; which most of the poets wrote, if not through a principle of religion, at least through a defire of acquiring that character: the fure confequence of which was the particular efteem of the people. At the time of the Theoria or Delian feftival fome celebrated poet always compofed the hymn, And amongst which doubtless was this of Callimachus. Pindar, we are told, was requested by the people of the ifland Cos to write a hymn upon Delos, and he plainly tells us he will do fo, in his first Pythian, and begs pardon of that ifle and Apollo, for delaying their praises till he has fung thofe of his own country; Ma And first triumphant hail'd the Deity. Not with less hate the nine pursue the bard Him who forgets his DELOS:-Be my ftrains THO' to tempeftuous feas and ftorms expos'd, Unshaken stands the isle; round whose rough shores Μη μοι κραναα νεμεσάσαι Δαλος, εν α κεχυμαι Ειξον ω' πολλωνίας Αμφοτέραντοι χαριτων Philo makes it clear, that Pindar performed his Ver. 3. Moft facred, &c.] As these islands had their name from furrounding Delos (Cycladas fic appellatas, quod omnes ambiunt Delum.) It seems probable they had thence also their title of igrala, or most facred) as Delos was a part of thefe Cyclades, and looked upon itself the moft facred place in the world. Otherwise why a parcel of poor wretched iflands famed for nothing but the misery and horror wherewith they threatned the offending Romans. (Spreta Myconos, humilifque Seriphos.) why they should be fo highly honoured, I know ΙΟ 15 (More not: Spanheim's first conjecture, that they probably were once in better cafe, feems quite groundless: and his fecond, though more reasonable is yet, I think, not fatisfactory: he says, they were called gwratas, on account of the great veneration they paid to Delos: it is true, they are known fo to have done; but were not other places equally religious in the worship they payed to that ifland?-a town has been celebrated and esteemed venerable for having had a great man in it, a country for a particular city or temple, and why not a number of islands for having one of themselves fo eminently renowned? The reader must judge. Ver. 13. Tho', &c.] This is a very difficult paffage in the original: I have endeavoured to give it as poetical a sense, as I am able: I had once rendered it more paraphrastically, thus: About its defert coafts tho' rough winds blow (More pervious to the cormorant than horse ; Where whilom lonely fishers made abode :) When move the islands, murmuring none beholds 20 25 The learned reader will, by confidering the words in the original, find this, I hope, expreffive of them. Virgil fays of Delos. That Apollo Immotamque coli dedit, & contemnere ventos. With firm foundations, and defy the winds. Some have imagined, that this steadfastness af- 128. -A ftation fit For cormorants, when pruning in the fun. Thefe Ver. 19. Yet to, &c.] The foregoing lines are a kind of apology for this fuperior honour, which, the poet tells us, was given to Delos, though in itself an ifland of fo fmall eftimation, yet for the favours done to Latona, thus fingularly rewarded. Ver. 21. Majestic, &c.] This principality attributed to the ifland Delos has nothing in it more than one would expect, from the fingular veneration that was payed to it, and the great religion it was held in by all the world. author, it must be obferved often speaks (indeed moft frequently) of the ifle as a perfonage: a cuftom, it is well known, used by all countries in all ages. Ver. 25. Which, &c.] - Ην επινήξατο κυπρις The Εξυδατος ταπρωτα· σαοι δε μιναντ' επιβάθρων. The prefent paffage by means of the periphrafis, which the author ufes for the island, is difficult of |