Natural Hiftory of the Ancients. 237 



Phoenician traditions of whales ; and then the next 

 ftep was eafy, the ftories of Andromeda and 

 Hefione, and their releafe by heroes. Similarly 

 the hydra 1 was magnified from the fnake. The 

 Harpies, too, which inhabited the Strophades, 

 were faint fhadows of travellers' tales from the 

 Eaft. Large bats were fpeedily transformed by 

 credulous wonder into 



" Virginei volucrum vultus, fcediffima ventris 

 Proluvies, uncaeque manus, et pallida Temper 

 Ora fame ;" 



and then the poet may well add, " Triftius haud 

 illis mondrum." 2 



The procefs of mythological creation can be 

 feen in the " OdyfTey," where the word Harpy firft 

 occurs. In it Harpies are fimply ftorm-winds 

 \vhich fweep ofF their viclims ; the fouler features 

 were afterwards added. 3 Once more, the griffin 

 was fabled to pofTefs a lion's body, with an eagle's 

 face and wings. When we are told that it was 

 faid to guard the gold-mines in the country of the 

 Arimafpi, we are at no lofs to difcover the reafon 

 which prompted its creation. 4 It is not fo eafy to 

 trace the geneiis of the Chimasra, " the invincible 

 Chimaera," as Homer terms it, " which was of 

 divine, and not of mortal lineage, a lion in front, 

 a dragon behind, and a fhe-goat in the midft, 

 breathing forth the dreadful might of blazing 



1 " Ouinquaginta atris immanis hiatibus Hydra 



Saevior intus habet fedem." Virgil, " Mn." vi. 576. 



2 Virgil, " Jn.," iii. 214, and 223^. 



3 "OdyfTey," xx. 77. 



4 See Virgil, "Eel.," viii. 27, and the note of Forbiger. 



