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N° 92.

THE RAMBLER.

221

⁠
Κύκλωψ δὲ στενὰχων τε καὶ ὡδὶνων ὁδύνησι,
Χερσὶ ψηλοφόων..————

Meantime the Cyclop raging with his wound,
Spreads his wide arms, and searches round and round.

POPE.

The critick then proceeds to shew, that the efforts of Achilles struggling in his armour against the current of a river, sometimes resisting and sometimes yielding, may be perceived in the elisions of the syllables, the slow succession of the feet, and the strength of the consonants.

⁠
Δεῖνον δ' αμφ' Ἁχιλῆα κυκώμενον ἱστατο κῦμα
Ὤθει δ' ἐν σάκει πίπτων ῥόος· οὑδὲ πόδεσσιν
Ἕσκε στηρίξασθαι.

So oft the surge, in wat'ry mountains spread,
Beats on his back, or bursts upon his head,
Yet dauntless still the adverse flood he braves,
And still indignant bounds above the waves.
Tir'd by the tides; his knees relax with toil;
Wash'd from beneath him, slides the slimy soil.

POPE.

When Homer describes the crush of men dashed against a rock, he collects the most unpleasing and harsh sounds.

⁠
Σὺν δὲ δύω μάρψας, ὥστε σκύλακας ποτὶ γαῖη
Κόπτ'· ἐκ δ' ἐγκέφαλος χαμάδις ῥέε, δεῦε δὲ γαῖαν.

⁠———His bloody hand
Snatch'd two, unhappy! of my martial band,
And dash'd like dogs against the stony floor:
The pavement swims with brains and mingled gore.

POPE.

And when he would place before the eyes something dreadful and astonishing, he makes choice of the strongest vowels, and the letters of most difficult utterance.

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