’ Cum ftabulis armenta trahiit. 
799: 
He rufh’d along 3 as the full torrent rolls, 
That {weeps the bridges in its rapid courfc, 
When, urg’d by Jove’s own fhow’rs, it fudden 
comes, 
Nor can the bulwark’d bridge, nor turfy 
mound 
That guards the cultur’d farm, its rage with- 
ftand, 
But down the fmiling works 
dafh’d: 
So from Tydides’ arm the Trojan bands, 
With all their numbers, fhrink, nor wait the 
fhock. - 1 SU aire 
Here the bridges, bulwarks, and 
mounds, which are principal objects in 
the landfcape, correfpond with the grofs 
battalions of the Trojans, which formed 
a feeming, though ineffectual, barrier 
againft the affailant. 
Virgil, defcribing the Greeks burfting 
into Priam’s palace, after the demolition 
of the gates and barricades, ufés the 
fame fimile : 
Non fic, aggeribus ruptis cum {pumeus amnis 
Exit, oppofitafque evicit gurgite moles, 
Fertur in arva furens cumulo, campofque per 
omnes 
of man are 
ZBy. ii. 496. 
Not with fo fierce a rage the foaming flood 
Roars, when he finds his rapid courfe with- 
ftood ; ; 
Bears down the dams with unrefifted fway, 
And {weeps the cattle and the cots away. 
DRYDEN. 
The fame poet imitates Homer in 
comparing his heroes, individually, to 
torrents. In the following paflage both 
Turnus and Aineas, engaged in different 
parts of the field, are thus refembled ; 
Aut ubi decurfu rapido de montibus altis 
Dant fonitum fpumofi amnes, & in zquora 
currunt, 
Quifque fuum populatus iter. 
JEN, Xi. 523. 
Or rapid torrents from the mountains {weep, 
Roar down the fides, aud thunder to the deep; 
With weight refiitlefs, and deftructive {way, 
O’er half a ruin’d country take their way. 
Jes taupe 
This tranflation, as well as Dryden's, 
has failed in expreffing the Qui/que Juum 
populatus iter, ‘each laying watte his 
own track ;’’ which is neceflary for the 
jutt application of the fame object of 
comparifon, to two oppofite leaders. 
Homer -has a noble and well adapted 
fimile, in which the confli¢t of meeting 
torrents is defcribed as a comparifon of 
the fhock of two encountering armics. 
As when two wintry torrents, from the cliffs, 
Esch from his copious fount pour’d rapid down 
Similes of Homer, Virgil, and Milton. 
 ftreams 
In fome mid valley, while their echoing roar 
Among the hills from far the fhepherd hears : 
So from the mingling hofts the fhouts arofe. 
IL. iv. 452. 
The figure of the fhepherd in this © 
piece is merely an ornamental addition ; 
but in the following of Virgil, which is 
obvioufly taken from it, this cireumftance 
is effential to the fimilitude. AZneas is 
defcribing the alarm by which he «was 
roufed on the fatal night of Troy He 
afcends the roof of his houfe, and -liftens 
to the confufed founds, which he com- 
pares firft, to that of fire ina field of 
corn, and then to the roar of a torrent : 
Aut rapidus montano flumine torrens 
Sternit agros, fternit fata leta boumque labores, 
Precipitef{que trahit fylvas: fiupet infcius alte 
Accipiens fonitum faxi de vertice paftor. 
FEN. il. 305. 

Or fome big torrent from a mountain’s brow, 
Burfts, pours, and thunders down the vale 
below : 
O’erwhelms the fields, lays wafte the goldem 
grain, 
And headlong {weeps the ferefts to the main ; 
Stun’d at the din, the fwain, with lift’ning ears, 
From fome fteep rock the founding ruin hears. 
: Pitt. 
The fea/ant is here the counter-part of 
Aeneas himfelf ; and therefore the epithet 
infcius, implying his ignorance of the 
caufe, fhould not have been dropt in the 
tranflation. 
Inthe preceding fimiles from Homer 
under this head, the application is as 
eafy and accurate as the pictures are 
lively and natural; whence it will appear 
more extraordinary, that in the one next 
to be produced, where the defcription is. 
wrought with peculiar ftrength and exaét-, 
nefs, the point of refemblance fhould be 
fcarcely difcernible : 
Aswhenthe whole dark earth in Autumn fwims 
Beneath the rufhing ftorm, when angry Jove 
Pours down his heavieft rains, enrag’d with men, 
Who from the judgment-feat give falfe decrees, 
Expelling right by force, and tet at nought 
The vengeance o! the Gods; each river now 
Swells to the brink; the torrents, burft away, 
And tearing thro’ the flopes, rufh headlong on 
Down from the hills, and feek the azure main, 
Deep murmuring, while the works of human toil 
Lié jevell’d: thus the Trojan fteeds in flight 
Groan’d deeply, as they ran. In. xvi, 384, 
The rout of the Trojans by Patroclus, 
and the difgraceful flight of Heétor in his 
chariot acrofs the fofs, is the fubjeét of the 
poet’s defcription. Enuftathius, the great 
champion 
[Nove 
- .« 7 
Thro’ hollow channels, mix their foaming 7 


