[51] Lucan vi. 473:
de rupe pependit
Abscissa fixus torrens; amnisque cucurrit
Non qua pronus erat.
Streams have run back at murmurs of her tongue,
And torrents from the rock suspended hung. Rowe.—Steevens.
"The line And headlong streams," says Ruffhead, "surely presents a new image and a bold one too." Bold indeed! Pope has carried the idea into extravagance when he makes the stream not only "listening," but "hang listening in its headlong fall." An idea of this sort will only bear just touching; the mind then does not perceive its violence; if it be brought before the eyes too minutely, it becomes almost ridiculous.—Bowles.
[52] In the MS.:
But see the southing sun displays his beams,
See Tityrus leads his herd to silver streams.
[53] Virg. Ecl. ii. 68:
Me tamen urit amor, quis enim modus adsit amori?—Pope.
He had Dryden's translation of the passage in Virgil before him:
Cool breezes now the raging heats remove:
Ah, cruel heav'n, that made no cure for love.—Wakefield.
[54] The phrase "where his journey ends" is mean and prosaic, nor by any means adequately conveys the sentiment required, which is this,—The sun grows milder by degrees, and is at length extinguished in the ocean, but my flames know neither abatement nor intermission.—Wakefield.