FOOTNOTES:
[112] These sonnets have been printed in their chronological order in the preceding volume of Mr Bowles' poems.
[113] Particularly Joanna Baillie, Mrs Hemans, Miss Landon, and my namesake—no otherwise related than by love of kindred music—Caroline Bowles.
[114] Criminals were banished to this island.
[115] The period is uncertain.
[116] Now Tino.
[117] See the first chapter of Revelation.
[118] Transfiguration on Mount Tabor.
[119] Rev. i. 17, 18.
[120] Domitian, who had banished him, and who had so proclaimed himself, was now dead, but without its being known to St John.
[121] See the harrowing account of the siege of Jerusalem, when the prophecy in St Matthew was fulfilled to the letter.
[122] Josephus.
[123] Rev. iv. 3.
[124] Rev. iv. 3.
[125] Rev. iv. 4.
[126] A chasm is shown in the cave, from which it is said the voice in the Revelation proceeded.
[127] Rev. iv. 6. I follow the best expositors in making those appearances (translated "beasts") the higher order of angels.
[128] Rev. v. 2.
[129] The book would be utterly and for ever sealed, but for our Lord Jesus Christ.
[130] Quails and rock pigeons are the only land-birds on the island, as there are no bushes.
[131] The islands of the Ægean are divided into the Sporades and Clycades; Patmos is among the Sporades.
[132] Evodias succeeded St Peter as Bishop of Antioch; Ignatius, disciple of St John, succeeded Evodias (Eusebius).
[133] The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.
[134] "And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel" (1 Kings xviii. 42).
[135] The wind which blew when St Paul was shipwrecked, now called Levanter, from its violence.
[136] Οροων επ οινοπα ποντον (Homer.)
[137] Seven Churches of Asia.
[138] Adriatic.
[139] Sardis, now Sart. Thyatira, now Ist-kissar, or White Castle.
[140] A fine expression of Sharon Turner.
[141] Priests of Cybele.
[142] There were a hundred altars to the goddess in Cyprus.
[143] The names of the illustrious visitors who heard the sound, twelve centuries past, may be seen in Pocock.
[144] The pyramids. The first time the author met the celebrated Dr Clarke, before the publication of his Travels, the first question eagerly asked was, "Of what colour are the pyramids?" To his surprise, the answer was, "As white as snow." But I have used the word "pale," as more in harmony with the picture, and less startling.
[145] The Hermes of the Greeks, the Mercury of the Romans, the Teut of the Celts, and the great teacher of the one unknown God, before Egypt sank into the grossest superstition.
[146] Perhaps the idea may be fanciful, but, to my ear, nothing more clearly reflects the image than the very words of the sentence—
"R[']an ăl[']ong ŭp[']on thĕ gr[']ound"
Handel, in his sublime Oratorio, "Israel in Egypt," seems to have felt this.
[147] Thomas, as by tradition we receive, chose Parthia; Andrew, Scythia (Eusebius).
[148] "Scythicæ non mitior ara Dianæ" (Lucan).
[149] See the exquisite tragedy of "[Iphigenia in Tauris]," by Euripides. Euripides may be alluded to here, as St Paul quoted Menander.
[150] "Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him" (Acts xvii. 18),—a singular and most interesting circumstance.
[151] Epicurus.
[152] The Hill of Mars. How striking the coincidence! Ovid says—
"Mavortis in Arce."
[153] Temple of Minerva, on the Acropolis.
[154] The celebrated gardens of Epicurus.
[155] Philippi and Thessalonica, in Macedonia.
[156] Grecian Apollo.
[157] Nero.
[158] See that most interesting chapter in Irenæus, descriptive of the progress of the gospel to the Celts, and to the "extremities of the earth."
[159] Mediterranean.
[160] See, in Josephus, the account of Pedanius.
[161] This was not an uncommon circumstance during the famine and this most terrible siege. See Josephus.
[162] Jews crucified, by order of Titus, without the walls.
[163] Adommin, the supposed scene of the wounded traveller in the Gospel.
[164] Flowers of Carmel, growing wildly.
[165] The highest point of the island.
[166] It should be remembered, that Domitian was murdered on the 18th of October; this could not have been known at Patmos before the beginning of November.
[167] Applied, generally, to the conquests of Trajan.
[168] Allusive, as generally conceived, to the Emperor Severus.
[169] "To kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth" (Rev. vi. 8).
[170] Rev. iv.
[171] Rev. vii.
[172] I must refer to the commentators in general for an illustration of these striking passages.
[173] The ensign of military command in the Roman legions.
[174] This seems no improbable cause.
[175] Rev. xvi.
[176] Rev. xix.
[177] Ελικη γε μεν ανδρες Αχαιοι
Ειν αλι τεκμαιρονται, ινα χρη νηας αγινειν (Aratus).
[178] Samuel.
[179] The dawn of knowledge and the Reformation; ignorance only being the parent of superstition.
[180] The classical reader will remember the beautiful tragedy of "Ion" in Euripides, from whom were named the Ionian islands.
[181] A beautiful image from Ovid.
[182] The Island of Roses.
[183] See that beautiful chapter in the Wisdom of Solomon.
[184] A broken column on the shore is spoken of by early writers, supposed to have been a relic of the earliest ages.
[185] See the 45th chapter of Isaiah.
[186] The classical reader will remember the farewell of Philoctates to his solitary cave in Lemnos.
[187] He published, it is true, one edict against the increase of the Jews and Christians in the empire.