Class II. T A M E S W A N. 569 



Befides thefe opinions, the antients held another 

 ftill more lingular, imagining that the fwan fore- 

 told its own end : to explain this we mull confider 

 the twofold chara&er of the poet, Fates and Poeta, 

 which the fable of the tranfmigration continue to 

 the bird, or they might be fuppofed to derive 

 that faculty from Apollo* their patron deity, the 

 god of prophecy and divination. 



As to their being fuppofed to fing more fweetly 

 at the approach of death, the caufe is beautifully 

 explained by Plato, who attributes that unufual me- 

 lody, to the fame fort of Ecftafy that good men are 

 fometimes faid to enjoy at that awful hour, fore- 

 feeing the joys that are preparing for them on 



putting off mortality, Mavlwoi rs ekti, kou 7tfo£ih%TE$ ra ev 

 A&s aya&cc, aoziri te, nai TEpTrovrai ekeivyiv rriv Yi[AE$av dictipEgovTug 



», ev tco 7t§q<t$ev xfovu f. " They become prophetic, 

 and forefeeing the happinefs which they Hiall enjoy 

 in another (late, are in greater ecftafy than they have 

 before experienced". 



This notion, tho' accounted for by Plato^ feems 

 to have been a popular one long before his time, 

 for AEfchylus alludes to it in his Agamemnon % Cly- 

 temneftra fpeaking of Cajfandra, fays, 



■ Yi ?£ T0l 9 HMV8 6MYIV, 



Toy VTO.TQV (/,E^ao~a Savaaifiov yoov, 

 Keitou. 



•— She like the fwan 

 Expiring, dies in melody. 



* Platonis Pbado* Ed. Cantab. 1683. p, 124. 

 f Ibid. 



p P 4 Gre y 



