242
Protesilaus
was the first Greek who fell, slain by Hector, as he
leaped from the vessel to the Trojan shore.
leaped from the vessel to the Trojan shore.
Iliad - Pope
335, seq.
239 --_The brazen dome. _ See the note on Bk. viii. Page 142.
240 --_For, by the gods! who flies. _ Observe the bold ellipsis of "he
cries," and the transition from the direct to the oblique
construction. So in Milton:--
"Thus at their shady lodge arriv'd, both stood,
Both turn'd, and under open sky ador'd
The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heaven,
Which they beheld, the moon's resplendent globe,
And starry pole. --Thou also mad'st the night,
Maker omnipotent, and thou the day. "
Milton, "Paradise Lost," Book iv.
241 --_So some tall rock. _
"But like a rock unmov'd, a rock that braves
The raging tempest, and the rising waves--
Propp'd on himself he stands: his solid sides
Wash off the sea-weeds, and the sounding tides. "
Dryden's Virgil, vii. 809.
242 Protesilaus was the first Greek who fell, slain by Hector, as he
leaped from the vessel to the Trojan shore. He was buried on the
Chersonese, near the city of Plagusa. Hygin Fab. ciii. Tzetz. on
Lycophr. 245, 528. There is a most elegant tribute to his memory in
the Preface to the Heroica of Philostratus.
243 --_His best beloved. _ The following elegant remarks of Thirlwall
(Greece, vol. i, p. 176 seq. ) well illustrate the character of the
friendship subsisting between these two heroes--
"One of the noblest and most amiable sides of the Greek character,
is the readiness with which it lent itself to construct intimate and
durable friendships, and this is a feature no less prominent in the
earliest than in later times. It was indeed connected with the
comparatively low estimation in which female society was held; but
the devotedness and constancy with which these attachments were
maintained, was not the less admirable and engaging. The heroic
companions whom we find celebrated partly by Homer and partly in
traditions which, if not of equal antiquity, were grounded on the
same feeling, seem to have but one heart and soul, with scarcely a
wish or object apart, and only to live as they are always ready to
die for one another. It is true that the relation between them is
not always one of perfect equality; but this is a circumstance
which, while it often adds a peculiar charm to the poetical
description, detracts little from the dignity of the idea which it
presents.
239 --_The brazen dome. _ See the note on Bk. viii. Page 142.
240 --_For, by the gods! who flies. _ Observe the bold ellipsis of "he
cries," and the transition from the direct to the oblique
construction. So in Milton:--
"Thus at their shady lodge arriv'd, both stood,
Both turn'd, and under open sky ador'd
The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heaven,
Which they beheld, the moon's resplendent globe,
And starry pole. --Thou also mad'st the night,
Maker omnipotent, and thou the day. "
Milton, "Paradise Lost," Book iv.
241 --_So some tall rock. _
"But like a rock unmov'd, a rock that braves
The raging tempest, and the rising waves--
Propp'd on himself he stands: his solid sides
Wash off the sea-weeds, and the sounding tides. "
Dryden's Virgil, vii. 809.
242 Protesilaus was the first Greek who fell, slain by Hector, as he
leaped from the vessel to the Trojan shore. He was buried on the
Chersonese, near the city of Plagusa. Hygin Fab. ciii. Tzetz. on
Lycophr. 245, 528. There is a most elegant tribute to his memory in
the Preface to the Heroica of Philostratus.
243 --_His best beloved. _ The following elegant remarks of Thirlwall
(Greece, vol. i, p. 176 seq. ) well illustrate the character of the
friendship subsisting between these two heroes--
"One of the noblest and most amiable sides of the Greek character,
is the readiness with which it lent itself to construct intimate and
durable friendships, and this is a feature no less prominent in the
earliest than in later times. It was indeed connected with the
comparatively low estimation in which female society was held; but
the devotedness and constancy with which these attachments were
maintained, was not the less admirable and engaging. The heroic
companions whom we find celebrated partly by Homer and partly in
traditions which, if not of equal antiquity, were grounded on the
same feeling, seem to have but one heart and soul, with scarcely a
wish or object apart, and only to live as they are always ready to
die for one another. It is true that the relation between them is
not always one of perfect equality; but this is a circumstance
which, while it often adds a peculiar charm to the poetical
description, detracts little from the dignity of the idea which it
presents.
