And darts his tongue, barb’d with a blazing star.
—Lamb’s Translation.
[23] It is scarcely necessary to remark that, no importance is to be attached to the numerical relations in this and other passages. In the original work describing a zodiac-dome, the exact number of constellations representing fishes, dogs, or the like, would of course be mentioned; but any changes necessary to Homer’s purpose in describing a shield would unhesitatingly have been introduced by him subsequently. It is singular, however, that we should have here, and in the passage quoted farther on as referring to Orion and the Dogs, the number two specially mentioned. The latter instance is the more remarkable inasmuch as the mention of men and hares would lead one to expect that more than two dogs would be introduced. I would suggest as a sufficient reason for this peculiarity that the verbal alterations necessary to pluralise some of the objects in the dome would be more easily effected than those necessary to undualise others.
Transcriber's Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and all other spelling and punctuation remain unchanged.