"A pair of coursers, born of heav'nly breed,
Who from their nostrils
breathed
ethereal fire;
Whom Circe stole from her celestial sire,
By substituting mares produced on earth,
Whose wombs conceived a more than mortal birth.
Iliad - Pope
142 --_?nus,_ a fountain almost proverbial for its coldness.
143 Compare Tasso, Gier. Lib., xx. 7:
"Nuovo favor del cielo in lui niluce
E 'l fa grande, et angusto oltre il costume.
Gl' empie d' honor la faccia, e vi riduce
Di giovinezza il bel purpureo lume."
144 "Or deluges, descending on the plains,
Sweep o'er the yellow year, destroy the pains
Of lab'ring oxen, and the peasant's gains;
Uproot the forest oaks, and bear away
Flocks, folds, and trees, an undistinguish'd prey."
Dryden's Virgil ii. 408.
145 --_From mortal mists._
"But to nobler sights
Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed."
"Paradise Lost," xi. 411.
146 --_The race of those.
_
"A pair of coursers, born of heav'nly breed,
Who from their nostrils
breathed
ethereal fire;
Whom Circe stole from her celestial sire,
By substituting mares produced on earth,
Whose wombs conceived a more than mortal birth.
Dryden's Virgil, vii. 386, sqq.
147 The belief in the existence of men of larger stature in earlier
times, is by no means confined to Homer.
148 --_Such stream, i.e._ the _ichor,_ or blood of the gods.
"A stream of nect'rous humour issuing flow'd,
Sanguine, such as celestial spirits may bleed."
"Paradise Lost," vi. 339.
149 This was during the wars with the Titans.
150 --_Amphitryon's son,_ Hercules, born to Jove by Alcmena, the wife of
Amphitryon.
151 --_?giale_ daughter of Adrastus. The Cyclic poets (See Anthon's
Lempriere, _s. v.
