“Septem urbes certant de stirpe insignis Homeri,—
Smyrna, Rhodos, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, Athenæ.”
For all places mentioned in the history of Grecian literature, see Map, p. 132.
[22] In this category we do not mean to include our own Shakespeare; Homer’s pedestal is no loftier than his.
[23] A city south-east of Troy, situated at the base of Mount Pla’cos, and hence called Hypoplacian (under Placos).
[24] The ægis was Jupiter’s shield, which inspired fear, and caused darkness, clouds, and storms.
[25] His mother, Priam’s wife, king of Troy.
[26] The following lines, with their long and short syllables distinguished and arranged as in the dactylic hexameter and pentameter, will give an idea of the cadence of the elegiac couplet:—
“Give mĕ sŏme | mŏre,” săys thĕ | mīsĕrlỹ | mān, thoŭgh ăs | rīch ăs ă | Crœsūs;
Nēvĕr e|noūgh ĭn hĭs | stōre, || īf hĕ căn | gēt ănỹ | mōre.