N 
795] 
champion of Homer, acknowledges that 
the only point of refemblance, in this mi- 
nutely detailed fimile, is the panting, or 
rather sJreaning of the Trojan hortes, 
compared to the mufe of the torrents. 
Mr. Pope, in his tranflation, artfully va- 
ries and extends the circurmftance of fimi- 
litude in thefe lines: 2 
Not with lefs noife, with lefs inipetuous force, 
The tide of Trojans urge their defperate courfe, 
Than when, &c. 
And he entirely furpaffes the incident of 
the groaning fteeds. In a note, too, on 
the paffage, he is filent with refpeét to 
the fimile, as fuch ; but prompts the read 
€r’s admiration of the moral. ftrokes ob- 
liquely introduced into the paflage ; 
which, indeed, are valuable, as conveying 
a picture of early manners and fenti- 
ments. 
Virgil alfo has a thort, but clear and 
well adapted fiinile, in which the xoi/e of 
a rapid and obitruéted ftream is the only 
objeét of comparifon. 
Vix ea legati: variufque yer ora cucurrit 
Auwfonidam turbata fremor: ceu, {axa morantur 
€um rapidos amnes, claufo ft gurgite murmur, 
Vicinzeque fremunt ripe crepitantibus undis. 
AEN, Xt.n2.96. 
Thus.of their charge the legates made report ; 
Straight ran a mingled murniur thro’ the court : 
So when by rocks the torrents are withftood, 
In deep hoarfe murmurs rolls th’ imprifon’d 
flood 3 
Beats on the banks ; and, with a fullen found, 
Works, foams, and runs in circling eddies round. 
Je, eagle 
‘There remain two fimiles in Homer 
derived from the fame fource with thofe 
already quoted, but different in their ap- 
plication. The firft is introduced where 
Hector, accompanied by the god Mars 
himfelf, advanced to check the progrefs 
of the viétorious Diomed : 
As when th’ unknowing trav’ller in his m rch 
Crofs the wide plain, ftops fudden on the bank 
Of fome {wift river ruthing to the rain; 
And as he fees it foam, and murm’ring race, 
Leaps backward: fo Tydides quick withcrew. 
Tv. 507. 
The picture here is uncommonly lively; 
nor can any thing be objected to the jutt- 
nefs of comparifon, except that the fur- 
prife of the traveller, at the view of fuch 
an obftacle, would fcarcely be attended 
with an alarm, or fenfe of danger, like 
that of the warrior on being aétively op- 
pofed by fuch formidabie antagonifts. 
The other paffage rerers to the combat 
about the dead body of Patroclus, where 
the two Ajaxes repel the: whole onfet of 
Similes of Homer, Firgil, and Milton. 
79% 
the Trojans, while the body is carried off 
by the Greeks ; 
As ftretch’d acrofs the length’ning plain,a mound 
With trees o’ergrown, reftrains the watery tide, 
And potent rivers in their rapid courfe 
Refifting, turns afide the rifing flood, 
And bears unbroken al! the current’s rage; 
So the twin warriors all the force of Troy 
Repell’d, IL. xvii. 744, 
The fimilitude is here perfeétly obvious 
and exact. [See alfo Ain. xi. 296.] 
Virgil has three fimiles derived fror 
rivers, of a different kind from thofe hi- 
therto quoted. The firft relates to that 
common-place topic of the tendency of 
every thing terreftrial to degeneracy and 
decline ; which he illuftrates by the com- 
parifon of a boat rowed againfi the fream : 
fic omnia fatis 
In pejus ruere, ac retro fublapfa referri, 
Haud aliter quam qui adverfo vix fumine 
lembum 
Remigiis fubigit ; fi brachia forte remifit, 
Atque illum in preeceps prono rapit alveus amni. 
GzorG. 1, 199: 
For fuch the changeful lot of things below, 
Stil to decay they ruth, and ever backwards flow 
As one who *gainft a ttream’s impetuous courfe 
Scarce pulls his flow boat, urg’d with all his 
force, 
If once his vigour ceafe, or arms grow flack, 
Inttant, with headlong hafte, the torrent whirls 
him back. WARTON. 
This is a juft fimile when applied toa 
melioration aad improvement of nature, 
as in this inftance of agriculture. The 
exprefiion of labour in the original, by 
adverfo, vx, fubigit, is wrought with ail 
the exactnefs peculiar to this writer, and 
is imitated by the tranflator. 
In the cther paflage, Virgil defcribes 
the combined army under Turnus march- 
ing in a column to attack the Trojan camp,. 
under the following image: 
Ceu feptem furgens fedatis amnibus altus 
Per tacitum Ganges: aut pingui flumine Nilus 
Cum refuit campis, & jam fe condidit alyeo. 
AEN. 1X. 30, 
So mighty Ganges leads with awful pride 
To {even lorge ttreams his {welling folemn tide: 
So Nile, compos’d within his banks again, 
Moves in flow pomp, majeftic, to the main. 
rrr. 
There is great dignity, and equal pro- 
priety, 1n this comparifon of the filent ad- 
vance of’ an army, not to a torrent, bur te 
a mighty" river filing its banks, yet not 
overflowing, ‘The firfi line of the paf- 
fage,* com poled of fpondees, and diftin- 
guithed by’ alliteration, very happily cor- 
refponds with the fenfation defigned ta 
be excited by the imagery. J. A. 
_ Lio ae continued, | 
3 Por 


