called Oistros by the Anciejits. 405 



losophers might have been presented with, as their testimonies 

 are various, and militate against each other ; but none are de- 

 scriptive of the true Ûy, which we now fully know. Surely such 

 a conclusion is more natin-al and just, than to suppose these 

 contiicting descriptions true, and that the poets and common 

 observers were false witnesses. 



I now proceed to give what Virgil says respecting the name 

 of it among the ancients, and the tumult it occasions ; and of 

 which no sweat-sucking Tabanus, Co/tops, or modern .hi lus, 

 can in any way be the cause. 



" Est lucos Silaii circa, ilicibiisque virentem 

 Plurimus Albiirnuiii volitans, cui nomen Asilo 

 Romanum est, Œslion Graii vertère vocantes : 

 Asper, accrba soiians : quo tola exterrita sylvis 

 DiffLigiunt armctita, fuiit mngitibus iEther 

 Concussiis, sylvœqLie, et sicci ripa Tanagri." 



GeORG. lib. iii. v. 146. 



From this admirable description, it is clearly manifest that 

 Jsilits was the Roman name for the fly which agitates the 

 cattle ; and it is equally clear that Œsfros was the Greek name 

 for it. 



Not much weioht is due to the observation, that Homer's in- 

 sect was not the modern Œstrus, because he mentions the spring 

 as the season of its appearance, since he also adds, in the same 

 line, ore r ^'jO-ara f^uK^à, ■TriXovrai, " when the days are long ;" nor 

 that Shakespeare did not use the word Brize for the same insect, 

 merely because he has assigned its appearance to the month of 

 June, when it more often appears now in July. Indeed the al- 

 teration of style will account for this diti'erence. But the same 

 poet uses the word in another place, where the allusion is too 

 distinct to be mistaken : 



" The herd hath more annoyance by tlie Brize, 

 Than by the Tiger." Troilus and Cressida. 



And 



