Page:The Dunciad - Alexander Pope (1743).djvu/143

That tinctur'd as it runs with Lethe's streams,
And wafting Vapours from the Land of dreams, 340
(As under seas Alphæus' secret sluice
Bears Pisa's off'rings to his Arethuse)
Pours into Thames: and hence the mingled wave
Intoxicates the pert, and lulls the grave:
Here brisker vapours o'er the Temple creep, 345
There, all from Paul's to Aldgate drink and sleep.
Thence to the banks^{[I 1]} where rev'rend Bards repose,
They led him soft; each rev'rend Bard arose;

Remarks.

Οἲ τ᾽ ἀμφ᾽ ἱμερτὸν ιργ Τίταρήσιον ἔργ᾽ ἐνέμοντο,
Ὅς ῥ᾽ ἐς Πηνειὸν ῶροἶει καλλίῤῥοον ὔδωρ,
Οὀδ᾽ ὅγε Πηνειῷ συμμίσγεται δργυροδίνη,
Ἀλλά τέ μιν καθύπερθεν επιῤῥέει ἠῢτ᾽ ἔλαιον.
Ὁρκοῦ γδ δεινοῦ Στυγὸς ὔδατός ἐστιν απῤῥώξ.Homer Il. ii. Catal.



Of the land of Dreams in the same region, he makes mention, Odyss. xxiv. See also Lucian's True History. Lethe and the Land of Dreams allegorically represent the Stupefaction and visionary Madness of Poets, equally dull and extravagant. Of Alphæus's waters gliding secretly under the sea of Pisa, to mix with those of Arethuse in Sicily, see Moschus, Idyll. viii. Virg. Ecl. x.
Sic tibi, cum fluctus subter labere Sicanes,
Doris amara suam non intermisceat undam.


And again, Æn. 3
———Alphæum, fama est, ut Elidis amnem
Occultas egisse vias, subter mare, qui nunc
Ore, Arethusa, tuo, Siculis confunditur undis.

Imitations.

1. Ver. 349. Thence to the banks, &c.]
   Tum canit errantem Permessi, ad flumina Gallum,
   
   Utque viro Phœbi chorus assurrexerit omnis;