376 VALE OF TEMPE. 
CHAP, Olympus and Ossa^; where the Greeks y before they 
fixed upon Thermopylce, first intended to arrest 
the progress of the Persian army. We may 
now therefore observe with what surprising 
precision the author, before cited, fixes upon 
the real spot ; being guided only by the clue 
suggested to his classic mind from the hints 
and allusions of the antient historians'. " From 
the descriptions of the Poets we can derive no 
great light. The * Zephyris agitata Tempe' of 
Horace, and the 'frigida Tempe" of Virgil; the 
epithets umbrosa, opaca, virentia, are constantly 
bestowed upon this oft-sung dale ; but woods 
will perish', and barbarism will destroy. 
These are bad landmarks : we must look for 
others. The mountain will still raise its head, 
and the river will not cease to flow. Olympus 
(though a modern might not choose it for one of 
the steps of his ladder to heaven) is yet a mile 
high * ; and the rapid Pen'eus is well known to 
(1) 'Ef ra lifji.vta Ij rrj* ifffhoXh^, H^tp a*o Mixiti^ovin; <r>)f koctu Is Blf^a- 
Ai'-/?» ^i»ij •jfa^oc. n>iv£(av ^or&fiov, f/.tru^u Ss OvXvfiVov tow eilpto! iivra xai rUf 
'Oirrns- Herodoli Hist. lib. vii. c. 17.?. p. 438. ed. Gronovii. 
(2) Browne's, Miscell. Sketches, vol. I. p. 1 18. Lond. 1798. 
(5) See the complete fulfilment of his prediction, in the circumstance 
liefore related of tlie destruction of the woods for the manufactory and 
falirics of Ampda/cia. 
(4) See the account of its elevation (in a preceding Note by i\ii. 
]''a!pf,le), as ascertained by the Antients. 
