No More Learning

[155] Diomede, a tyrant of Thrace, who fed his horses with human flesh;
a thing, says the grave Castera, almost incredible. Busiris was a king
of Egypt, who sacrificed strangers.

_Quis . . . illaudati nescit Busiridis aras? _

VIRG. Geor. iii.

Hercules vanquished both these tyrants, and put them to the same
punishments which their cruelty had inflicted on others. Isocrates
composed an oration in honour of Busiris; a masterly example of Attic
raillery and satire.

[156] _i. e. _ the equator.

[157] Hermes is the Greek name for the god Mercury.
[158] Having mentioned the escape of the Moorish pilots, Osorius
proceeds: Rex deinde homines magno cum silentio scaphis et lintribus
submittebat, qui securibus anchoralia nocte praeciderent. Quod nisi
fuisset a nostris singulari Gamae industria vigilatum, et insidiis
scelerati illius regis occursum, nostri in summum vitae discrimen
incidissent.

[159] Mercury.

[160] A city and kingdom of the same name on the east coast of Africa.

[161] Ascension Day.

[162] Jesus Christ.

[163]

_Vimen erat dum stagna subit, processerat undis
Gemma fuit. _

CLAUD.

_Sic et coralium, quo primum contigit auras,
Tempore durescit, mollis fuit herba sub undis. _

OVID.


[164] There were on board Gama's fleet several persons skilled in the
Oriental languages. --OSOR.

[165] See the Eighth Odyssey, etc.

[166] Castera's note on this place is so characteristic of a Frenchman,
that the reader will perhaps be pleased to see it transcribed. In his
text he says, "_Toi qui occupes si dignement le rang supreme. _" "_Le
Poete dit_," says he, in the note, "_Tens de Rey o officio, Toi qui sais
le metier de Roi_.