"The barbarous dissonance
Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race
Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard
In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears
To rapture, till the savage clamor drown'd
Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse defend
Her son."
[14.] Rhodope. A range of mountains in Thrace, sacred to Bacchus. Hæmus was another range extending from Rhodope, on the west, to the Black Sea, on the east.
[15.] Music. Compare what Pope says of music with:
"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast."
—Congreve, The Mourning Bride.
"O Music! sphere-descended maid,
Friend of pleasure, wisdom's aid!"
—Collins, The Passions.
"Soft is the music that would charm forever."
—Wordsworth, Sonnets.
[16.] Compare these lines with the four which end Dryden's "Alexander's Feast."