(Æn., Book V, 36.)
[256]. Compare Shakespeare—
“Here in her hairs
The painter plays the spider—and hath woven
A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men
Faster than gnats in cobwebs: but her eyes.”
—Merchant of Venice, iii, 2.
[257]. In Virgil there is a similar scene, where Dido bids her sister erect a pile to burn the arms and the presents of Æneas.
[258]. There is a tradition that Gushtasp was Darius Hystaspes, and that his son Isfendiyar was Xerxes.
[259]. Compare the wooden horse that caused the fall of Troy, also the fall of Arzestan, which the Saracen general conquered by smuggling into the city a portion of his troops in chests, having obtained leave of the governor to deposit there some old lumber which impeded his march.