"Thrice thro' my arms she slipt like empty wind' [...] This passage plainly shews that the vehicles of the departed were believ'd by the Antients to be of an aerial substance, and retain nothing of corporeal grossness"
— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744), Broome, W. and Fenton, E.
Place of Publication
London
Date
1725-6
Metaphor
"Thrice thro' my arms she slipt like empty wind' [...] This passage plainly shews that the vehicles of the departed were believ'd by the Antients to be of an aerial substance, and retain nothing of corporeal grossness"
Metaphor in Context
Thrice in my arms I strove her shade to bind,
Thrice thro' my arms she slipt like empty wind,
Or dreams, the vain illusions of the mind .
Wild with despair, I shed a copious tide
Of flowing tears, and thus with sighs reply'd.
Thrice in my arms I strove her shade to bind,]
This passage plainly shews that the vehicles of the departed were believ'd by the Antients to be of an aerial substance, and retain nothing of corporeal grossness.
Virgil has borrow'd these verses.
Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum ;
Ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago ,
Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno.
Scaliger gives the preference to the Roman Poet, becauses he uses three verses, at a time when the word ter occurs in the description, whereas Homer concludes in little more than two lines. But this is not criticizing, but trifling; and ascribing to an Author what the Author himself had no thought of. This puts me in mind of a story in Lucian , where a person of a strong imagination thinking there was a mystery inmhnin , the first word in the Iliad , is introduc'd enquiring of Homer in the regions of the dead, why he plac'd it in the beginning of his Poem? he answers, Because it first came into his head. I doubt not but the number of the lines in this place in both Poets was equally accidental; Virgil adds nothing to the thought of Homer , tho' he uses more words.
Thrice thro' my arms she slipt like empty wind,
Or dreams, the vain illusions of the mind .
Wild with despair, I shed a copious tide
Of flowing tears, and thus with sighs reply'd.
Thrice in my arms I strove her shade to bind,]
This passage plainly shews that the vehicles of the departed were believ'd by the Antients to be of an aerial substance, and retain nothing of corporeal grossness.
Virgil has borrow'd these verses.
Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum ;
Ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago ,
Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno.
Scaliger gives the preference to the Roman Poet, becauses he uses three verses, at a time when the word ter occurs in the description, whereas Homer concludes in little more than two lines. But this is not criticizing, but trifling; and ascribing to an Author what the Author himself had no thought of. This puts me in mind of a story in Lucian , where a person of a strong imagination thinking there was a mystery in
Categories
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
Over 30 entries in ESTC (1725, 1726, 1745, 1752, 1753, 1758, 1760, 1761, 1763, 1766, 1767, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1773, 1778, 1790, 1792, 1795, 1796).
The Odyssey of Homer. Translated from the Greek, 5 vols. (London: Printed for Bernard Lintot, 1725-26).
The Odyssey of Homer. Translated from the Greek, 5 vols. (London: Printed for Bernard Lintot, 1725-26).
Date of Entry
10/26/2003
