———so Helen look'd,
So her white neck reclined, so was she borne
By the young Trojan to his gilded bark.
This is expressed with his usual knowledge and precision of language. See Const. Manas, ed. Meurs. vii. p. 390.
Δειρὴ μακρἀ, κατάλενκος, ὅθεν έμεν εμυθουργήθη,
Κυκνογενῆ τὴν έυόπτον Έλένην χρηματίζειν.
and Antehom. of Tzetzes, ed. Jacobs. 115. For an account of a modern rape of a Grecian virgin from Mycenæ, conducted in the approved ancient manner, see Wheler's Travels in Greece, p. 63.
Page xvii. Her damask'd.]Malala, in his Chronicle, lib. v. p. 114. describes Helen as ἔνστολος, handsomely drest. Beautiful as she was, Philostratus says, that Hiera, the wife of Telephus, king of Mysia, was reckoned handsomer; Το σᾶυτον äυτην φήσι πλεονεκτεῖν τῆς Ελένης ὅσονκἀκέινη τῶν Τροἀδων. v. ed. Olearii, p. 691. and the author of Τῶν Τροικῶν, joins in this assertion, p. 679. J. Tzetzes, in his Antehom. follows them, v. 285.
῍H γἀρ και Εκενὴν άπεκἀινυτο καλλει πόλλον.
Arintheus was the greatest male beauty whom history has recorded; he is celebrated even by St. Basil, who supposes that God had created him as an inimitable model of the human species. The painters and sculptors could not express his figure. The historians appeared fabulous when they related his exploits, v. Am. Marcell. Hist. xxvi. and the note of Valesius.
Page xvii. Then o'er the deep.]When Mr. Anson, Lord Anson's brother, was on his travels in the East, he hired a vessel to visit the isle of Tenedos; his pilot, an old Greek, as they were sailing along, said, with some satisfaction—There 'twas our fleet lay.—Mr. Anson demanded, What fleet? What fleet? replied the old man, a little piqued with the question, why our Grecian fleet to be sure, at the siege of Troy. See Harris's Philol. Enq. p. 320.
Page xvii. Breathing revenge.]After the death of Hector, says Constantine Manasses, p. 397, ed. Meursii, Priam sent to the Amazons to assist him, and when they were slain, he sent to David, king of Juda:
Είς τόν Δαβιδ τὸν äνακτα, τὴς Ἰουδαίας πέμπει
Παλάμην έξαιτούμενος συμμαχικὴν έκεῖθεν.
but David had battles of his own to fight. So Priam sent to
