and rugged tones, which sounded more like a concert of fellows breaking up the ground with mattocks than a chorus of human beings singing the nuptial hymn.* Daphnis and Chloe, on their part, went to bed in nature's own adornment, where they kissed and embraced each other, and were as wakeful as the very owls. Daphnis carried into practice the instructions of his preceptress Lycænium, and Chloe learnt, for the first time in her life, that all their doings in the woods had been but so much child's play. * “ Καθάπερ τριάιναις γῆν ἀναῤῥηγνύντες, οὐχ ὑμέναιον ἄδοντες." THE END. ACHILLES TATIUS. BOOK I. SIDON is situated upon the coast of the Assyrian sea; it is the mother* city of the Phoenicians, and its inhabitants were the founders of Thebes. It has a harbour of capacious extent, which gradually admits within it the waters of the sea; it is double, because, to the right, a passage has been dug into an inner basin, which likewise admits the sea; in this manner the first harbour becomes the entrance to a second, which affords a secure haven to vessels during summer, while in winter they can ride at anchor safely in the former. Upon arriving here after encountering a severe storm, I made thank-offeringst on account of my preservation, to the goddess of the Phoenicians, called by the Sido Μήτηρ Φοινίκων ἡ πόλις, Θηβαίων ὁ δῆμος πατήρ. The “mothercity," because of the many colonies which it sent out: on the foundation of Thebes, Pliny, B. v, c. 19, says: "Sidon, artifex vitri, Thebarum Boeotiarum parens." We find in the Scriptures, that Tyre and Sidon were famous for works in gold, embroidery, &c., and whatsoever regarded magnificence and luxury.-See Isaiah xxiii.-Ezek. xxvii. xxviii. The Phoenicians were, in very early times, celebrated for merchandise of every description; and their country was justly considered the emporium of the East. They were the earliest navigators, and their skill in ship-building may be inferred from 1 Kings, v. 6.— Trollope's Homer. + Σώστρα οι σωτήρια. escape from shipwreck Sacrifces and votive offerings, made upon "Me tabulâ sacer Votivâ paries indicat uvida, Suspendisse potenti Vestimenta maris Deo."-Hor. I. Od. v. 12. nians, Astarte. * As I was wandering about the city, surveying the votive offerings in the temples, I saw a painting containing a view both of sea and land. Europat formed the subject, and the scene was laid partly on the Phoenician sea, partly on the coast of Sidon. In a meadow was seen a band of maidens; a bull was swimming in the sea, directing his course towards Crete, and having a fair damsel seated upon his back. The meadow was diversified with flowers intermixed with trees and shrubs; the trees were near to one another, and their branches and leaves united so closely overhead, as to form a cover for the flowers below. The artist had shewn great skill in managing the shade; for the sun-rays were seen dispersedly breaking through the overarching roof of leaves, and lighting up the meadow, which, situated as I have said, beneath a leafy screen, was surrounded on all sides by a hedge. Under the trees, beds of flowers were laid out, in which bloomed the narcissus, the rose, and the myrtle. Bubbling up from the ground, a stream flowed through the midst of this enamelled meadow, watering the flowers and shrubs; and a gardener was represented with his pickaxe opening a channel for its course. The maidens above mentioned were placed by the painter, in a part of the meadow bordering upon the sea. Their countenances wore a mingled expression of joy and fear; they had chaplets upon their heads, their hair fell dishevelled about their shoulders; their legs were entirely bare-for a cincture raised their garments above the kneeand their feet were unsandalled; their cheeks were pale and contracted through alarm; their eyes were directed towards the sea; their lips were slightly opened as if about to give vent to their terror in cries; their hands were stretched out towards the bull; they were represented upon the verge of the sea, the water just coming over their feet; they appeared * The Syrian Venus. "Venus-quarta, Syria, Tyroque concepta; quæ Astarte vocatur, quam Adonidi nupsisse proditum est."-Cic. de Nat. Deorum, Ovid. Met. ii. 844, and Moschus, Idyl. 2. Compare a passage in Longus, B. iv., 'Ev μɛtewpw dè oi kλáðoi συνέπιπτον ἀλλήλοις, καὶ ἐπήλλαττον τος κόμας, ἐδόκει μὲν τοὶ καὶ ἡ τούτων φύσις εἶναι τεχνης. eager to hasten after the bull, but at the same time fearful of encountering the waves. The colour of the sea was twofold: towards the land it had a ruddy hue; * farther out it was dark blue; foam also, and rocks and waves were represented; the rocks projecting from the shore, and whitened with foam, caused by the crests of the waves breaking upon their rugged surface. In the midst of the sea, the bull was represented swimming, the waves rising in mountains from the motion of his legs. The maiden was seated upon his back, not astride, but sideways; she grasped his horn with her left hand, as a charioteer would hold the reins; and the bull inclined his head in that direction, as if guided by her hand. She was dressed in a white tunic as far as her middle, the rest of her body was clothed in a purple robe; the whole dress, however, was so transparent † as to disclose the beauties of her person. You could discern the deep-seated navel, the well proportioned stomach, the narrow waist, gradually widening until it reached the chest, the gently budding breasts. §-These, as well as the tunic, were confined by a cincture, and from its transparency, the tunic became, so to speak, a mirror to reflect her person. Both her hands were extended, one towards the horn, the other towards the tail; and with either of them she held an extremity of the veil which was expanded above her shoulders, and which appeared in every part inflated by the artist's "painted wind." || Thus seated upon the bull, the maiden resembled a vessel * "Mare purpureum.”—Virg. G. 4, 373. + In Ode xxviii., on his mistress, Anacreon says,— "Quàm castigato planus sub pectore venter."”—Qvid. Am. i. 5. "Her dainty paps, which like young fruit in May, Now little, 'gan to swell, and being tied Through her thin weed, their places only signified."-Spencer. "Tremulæ sinuantur flamine vestes."-Ovid. Met. ii. 875. |