Defcription of Scylla and Charybdis. • 13 



Sorbet in abruptum fluclus, rurfufque fub auras 

 Erigit alternos, et fidera vcrberat unda. 

 At Scyllatn caecis cohibet fpelunca latebris, 

 Ora exertantem, et naves in faxa trahentem. 

 Prima homlnis facies, et pulchro pedlore virgo 

 Pube lenus : pollrema immani corpore priflis, 

 Delphindn; caudas utero commifla luporum. 



ViRG. Mndd. Lib. IIL - 



I hides : "j 



f 



he tides, J 



Far on the right her dogs foul Scylla hides 



Charybdis roaring on the left prefides, 



And in her greedy whirlpool fucks the 



Then fpouts them from below : with fury driv'n 



The waves mount up, and wa£h the face of heav'n. 



But Bcylla from her den with open jaws 



The finding veflel in her eddy draws, 



Then daflies on the rocks. A human face 



And virgin bofom hide her tail's difgrace ; 



Her parts obfcene below the waves defcend 



With dogs enclos'd, and in a dolphin end. Dryden. 



I have no difficulty in availing myfelf of tlie defcription of a poet in a work dedicated to 

 the inveftigation of truth, nor Ihall I hefitate to cite iimilar paffages fron) another poet } 

 fince, however exaggerated thefe may be by the glowing colours of imagination, they con- 

 tain truth, and afford a fubjedl: for interefting enquiries. 



I ftiould have thought myfelf to have merited the greateft cenfure, if, when I was in the 

 ftrait of Meffina, I had not vifited two places of which fo much has been written, and which 

 have been rendered fo famous by the numerous (hipwrecks they have occafioned. 



I firft proceeded in a fmall boat to Scylla. This is a lofty rock, diftant twelve miles 

 from Meffina, which rifes almoft perpendicularly from the fca on the fliore of Calabria, and. 

 beyond which is the fmall city of the fame name. Though there was fcarcely any wind, I 

 began to hear, two miles before I came to the rock, a murmur and noife like a confufed 

 barking of dogs, and, on a nearer approach, readily difcovered the caufe. This rock, in its 

 lower parts, contains a number of cavcrns,onc of the largeft of which is called by the peo- 

 ple there Dragara. The waves, when in the leafl agitated, rulhing into thefe caverns, 

 break, dafli, throw up frothy bubbles, and thus occafion thefe various and multiplied 

 founds. I then perceived with how much truth and refcmblance of nature Homer and 

 Virgil, in their pcrfonifications of Scylla, had pourtrayed this fcene, by defcribing the 

 monfter they drew as lurking in the darknefs of a vaft cavern, furrounded by ravenous 

 barking maftifFs, together with wolves to increafe the horror : 



T«{ nroi fuv» /*cv ckti] ffmihaxoi noytMi 



Th/Hm^ ■ ' HoM. OdyfCXII. 



. " Here 



