Τον ρ' ευρ' ιδρώοντα ελισσομενον περι φυσας Αστεροεντα denotes the fireworks so much in use with the Chinese ; ελισσομενον περι φύσας, the winding of the coasts of China, and the monsoons which blow upon them backwards and forwards, in opposite directions (like the air from a pair of bellows), at different seasons of the year; τριποδας εεικοσι allude to the twenty degrees of longitude comprised within the country of China, which (by supposing the different meridians, including them, to run up to the north pole) form, with their several bases, so many triangles, τριπο δας, and have the automatous motion, αυτοματοι, of the earth, and so return to the same point of space again every year (προς δωμα νεοιατο). This passage Εν μεν γαιαν ετευξη εν δ' ἔρανον εν δε θαλασσαν and again, in the following lines, 18 II. 508, which seem to allude to the prizes which that people are in the habit of distributing, at their public trials of skill, to the successful competitors in the mathematics. In the next lines we see Ηφαιςος at work, 18 II. 410, Η και επ' ακμοθετοιο πελως αιήτον ανεξή Φυσας μεν ρ' απανευθε τίθει τσυρος οπλα τε παντα Αυχένα τε ςιβαρον και ςήθεα λαχνηεντα Της εν μεν νοος εςι μετα φρεσι ενδε και αυδή The lameness of the Chinese women (as such) which we have before seen ascribed to the god Ηφαιςος himself, is noticed frequently in the lines above extracted. Aagvan' es agrugen al ludes to the famous canal of stone which unites the White and Yellow rivers; σxиπтgov waxy, to the bamboo canes in such general use in China; and those words, I think, allude also to the tropic of Cancer, which crosses China, as the word bugale does to the multitude of islands (forming so many wuλas, bugas, januas) in the neighbourhood of the coasts of that country. Σπογγω contains a poetical reference to the very thick fogs which prevail all over the extensive shallows of the Yellow Sea; xevreal, to the name of that sea and the Yellow River, and (WHOI VENVEσI GIOIXvid, to the vast concourse of people usually assembled on that river, so as in a manner to cover it, and give it the appearance of being alive; an idea similar to that before noticed in the explanation of the meaning of Demodocus's name: the two last lines, above cited, allude to the entire union of all the great rivers of China by means of canals. The four following lines are an accurate description of the monsoons, and the word ecoσ! expresses the number of degrees of longitude through which they prevail: 18 11. 470, Φυσαι δ' εν χρανοισιν εείκοσι πασαι εφυσών Παντοιην εύπρηςον αΰτμην εξανίείσαι Αλλοτε μεν σπευδοντι παρεμμεναι αλλοτε δ' αυτε Οππως Ηφαιςος τ' εθελοι και εργον ανοιτο and the two next that follow denote the general skill of the Chinese in all metallic works, in which fire is used, 18 II. 474, Χαλκον δ' εν πυρι βαλλεν ατειρέα κασσιτεροντε The five next, containing a general description of the shield, give at the same time a general description of the globe: there are some particulars in it which I forbear from observing upon at present; but it may be remarked, that the word τριπλακα refers to the three zones, the torrid and the two temperate ; μαρμαρέην, to the ice at the poles; and the line, Πεντε δ' αρ' αυτε εσαν σάκεος πτυχές, to the five great circles upon the surface of the globe, which it is unnecessary to enumerate. |