Homer denominates the Nile, whose sources were unknown, a river that falls from Jupiter or heaven. And our countryman calls it sevenfold, as Ovid before him septemfluus, and Catullus still earlier septemgeminus, from the seven mouths by which its waters are discharged into the Mediterranean.—Wakefield.
[159] Originally thus in the MS.
Let Venice boast her tow'rs amidst the main,
Where the rough Adrian swells and roars in vain;
Here not a town, but spacious realms shall have
A sure foundation on the rolling wave.—Warburton.
This he altered with his usual discernment, on account of the mean conceit in the equivocal use of the word "foundation."—Wakefield.
[160] This alludes to General Stanhope's campaigns on the Ebro, and the Duke of Marlborough's on the Danube.—Croker.
In saying that British blood should no more dye foreign lands, Pope meant to furnish an argument for the Peace by intimating that the war was kept up, at the sacrifice of English life, for the benefit of other nations.
[161] In the manuscript:
O'er all the Forests shall appear no trace.
[162] And certainly sufficient ferocity is displayed even in these amusements. Cowley says,
And all his malice, all his craft is shown
In innocent wars, on beasts and birds alone.