5 6S T A M E S W A N. Class II. 



Thus he, as well as Pliny*, in fact, gave no 

 credit to the mufick of fwans. Ariftotk fpeaks of 

 it only by heariay-f, but, when once an error is 

 ftarted, it is not furprizing that it is adopted, 

 efpecially by poets, geniufes of all others of the 

 mod unbounded imaginations. For this reafon 

 poets were faid to animate fwans, from the notion 

 that they flew higher than any other birds, and 

 Hefiod diftinguifhes them by the epithet of *mm 

 atp<MroTai£ t " the lofty flying fwans" ; Thus Ho- 

 race, whilft he humbly compares himfelf to a bee, 

 contenting itfelf with the creeping thyme, fends 

 his Dircaum Cygnum into the clouds 



Multa Directum levat aura cygnum, 



Tcndit, Amor.!, queries in altos 



Nubium traclus. Ode. II. Lib. 4. 



but when he finds himfelf (truck with a true poeti- 

 cal fpirit, he at once aifumes the form of this ft- 

 vourite bird, 



Non ufitata nee tcnui feror 



Penna, biformis per liquidum aethera 



Vates : 



> et album mutor in alitem. Ode. XX. Lib. 2# 



And doubtlefs he was on the wing in his firfh ode, 



Sublimi feriam fydera vertice. 



* Lib. X. c. 33. 

 f Hiji. an. 1045. 

 X Scut. Here. 1. 316. 



Befides 



