CANTO V. that made nations drunk, that dwelt upon many waters and abounded in treasures, and at whose fall the very earth was moved (1); "of the city to which ancient Rome and modern London were but pigmies. Yet these were the works of centuries; whereas Babylon is represented as having been, for the most part, founded and finished by the self-same Semiramis. 'As a proof of her marvellous activity' (says Boccaccio (2).)' we have the story, that, being engaged at her mirror when the tidings of a rebellion reached her, she started up with one half of her hair platted, and, hurrying to arms, finished the Campaign successfully before platting the remainder; which the returned to her mirror to do, as soon as the war was ended: in which posture, of platting her hair, the was represented in a statue that for ages remained in Babylon.'. Dante commemorates her anew in his Monarchia(3), citing a verse from Ovid in her honor. Yet, in spite of such elevated merits, history accuses her of having possessed a large share of frailty; and, of even having made a law to authorize many of her amatory practises. Dante, in his account of Dido, follows his master, Virgil; to whom she would surely express her (1) Jeremiah, Chap. 51. (a) Comento, vol. 1. p. 293. (3) ... muris cinxis Semicramis Urbem. Monarchia, Lib. n. p. 49. CANTO V. of gratitude for the sweet imbalming of her name, if she be supposed to bear human feelings in the other world, or could she come back to this: for she would not, I think, relinquish that immortality of pity, for the best reputation given her by accurate chronologists. These prove she could not possibly have committed any breach of decorum with Aeneas, since she was not his cotemporary: still is it her supposed adventure with him that endears her to posterity; and painters, actors, and statuaries agree in transmitting the story her interesting error; though, Macrobius remarks, they have been always well aware of its falshood; such influence has a poet's eloquence! - tantum valuit pulchritudo narrandi(1). Her real catastrophe is however far from being void of interest: and it engaged Petrarch to give her a conspicuous place in one of his Triumphs, as a victim, not of lawless love, but of exemplary chastity (2). The widow Dido,' according to this account, committed her suicide for, not a living, but a dead Lord: and such was her fidelity to the manes of Sicchæus, that, when compelled by her subjects to yield her hand to the king of Mauritania, she required a few days delay before the consummation of her marriage, CANTO V. promising then to go to her husband. The time was employed in erecting a vast funeral pile in the midst of Carthage: and she, at the appointed hour, attired like a queen, and attended by a solemn procession of her court and nation, (who deemed the sacrifice an expiation to be offered to the deceased monarch before her new nuptials) proceeded to the scaffolding; and, leaving her train at its foot, ascended alone, where, after having pronounced this short harangue, 'Citizens! I keep my promise; I go to my husband,' her own royal dagger sheathed itself in her heart (1). 0.- LXIII. Cleopatra, daughter of the sun, she who in Egypt bound Cæsar with a wreath of flowers, the queen scorning a Roman triumph (2),' was herself triumphed over by illicit love: yet, with all her she had virtues that extracted encomium from her mortal enemy (3). errors, P. - LXIV. Helen too appears in the assemblage selected to (1) Justin, ap. Genealogia Deor. Lib. a. Cap. 60. (2) Trionfo d' Amore. Cap. 1. (3) She shall be buried by her Anthony; No grave upon the earth shall clip in it A pair so famous. High events as these Strike those that make them; and their story is Brought them to be lamented. Ant. and Cleop. Act. v. Scene the last. CANTO prepare us for the young Italian couple; Helen512 γυναικων - the goddess of womankind, the Spartan Queen whose resistless beauty made even old Priam exclaim, though prescient of the destruction she was bringing on his house, ... no wonder such celestial charms For nine long years have set the world in arms (1). When describing her juvenile appearance, previous to her first misadventure with the Prince of Athens, Boccaccio is eloquent. 'Sculptors, aided by the verses of Homer, and by the union of the separate perfections of a multitude of females, endeavoured, but in vain, to form an ideal beauty that could represent her's. Their utmost genius was foiled: for it could not convey the rapture of her glance, the amenity and kindness of her look, her affable, celestial smile, the varying hues of her complexion, the modesty of her words, and the gentleness of her conduct. None of these could be imparted by the heavenly statue made in order to bequeath to posterity a notion of Helen. Poets, attempting a similar task, were obliged to fable her being daugh ter of Jupiter; hoping, by that super-human expedient, to suggest to their readers' fancy some, however imperfect, conception of the reality of her charms, of the admirable candour of her countenance, of the richness and light texture of her golden tresses falling luxuriantly and gracefully (1) Pope's Iliad, Book 3. CANTO V. waving over her milky shoulders, of the soulsoothing tone of her sweet, sonorous voice, of the splendour of her forehead, of the ivory of her neck, and of the delicious roundness of her virgi. nal bosom (1).' Next come Achilles and Paris; names recalling, not only stupendous events in history and the formation of republics and of empires, but, what outlive these, the matchless produc tions of poetry. To the soft, yet noble Paris is accorded perhaps the finest similitude ever produced by the Muse of Homer, as well as the most spirited specimen of Mr. Pope's translation (2). Dante, by saying Achilles' fought with love to the last,' alludes not only to the long history of his amorous feats, from his puerile attachment to Deidomia to his passion for Patroclus (which produced an effect that neither patriotism, nor love of glory could), but also, and more particularly, to the manner of his death, when he was shot in the heel while waiting for the Trojan Virgin, Polyxena, by assignation. The amorous impetuosity of Achilles was (1) Comentó, Vol. 1. p. 304. (2) Forth issues Paris from the palace wall In brazen arms, whence gleamy lightnings fall.. |