No More Learning

287 --_He vowed. _ This was a very ancient custom.

288 The height of the tomb or pile was a great proof of the dignity of
the deceased, and the honour in which he was held.

289 On the prevalence of this cruel custom amongst the northern nations,
see Mallet, p. 213.

290 --_And calls the spirit. _ Such was the custom anciently, even at the
Roman funerals.

"Hail, O ye holy manes! hail again,
Paternal ashes, now revived in vain. "

Dryden's Virgil, v. 106.

291 Virgil, by making the boaster vanquished, has drawn a better moral
from this episode than Homer. The following lines deserve
comparison:--

"The haughty Dares in the lists appears:
Walking he strides, his head erected bears:
His nervous arms the weighty gauntlet wield,
And loud applauses echo through the field.
* * * *
Such Dares was, and such he strode along,
And drew the wonder of the gazing throng
His brawny breast and ample chest he shows;
His lifted arms around his head he throws,
And deals in whistling air his empty blows.
His match is sought, but, through the trembling band,
No one dares answer to the proud demand.
Presuming of his force, with sparkling eyes,
Already he devours the promised prize.
* * * *
If none my matchless valour dares oppose,
How long shall Dares wait his dastard foes? "

Dryden's Virgil, v. 486, seq.

292 "The gauntlet-fight thus ended, from the shore
His faithful friends unhappy Dares bore:
His mouth and nostrils pour'd a purple flood,
And pounded teeth came rushing with his blood. "

Dryden's Virgil, v. 623.

293 "Troilus is only once named in the Iliad; he was mentioned also in
the Cypriad but his youth, beauty, and untimely end made him an
object of great interest with the subsequent poets. "--Grote, i, p.
399.

294 Milton has rivalled this passage describing the descent of Gabriel,
"Paradise Lost," bk. v. 266, seq.

"Down thither prone in flight
He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky
Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing,
Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan
Winnows the buxom air. * * * *
* * * *
At once on th' eastern cliff of Paradise
He lights, and to his proper shape returns
A seraph wing'd. * * * *
Like Maia's son he stood,
And shook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance fill'd
The circuit wide.