XXIII. “Thus Menelaüs, while his brazen spear, &c.”
Αὐτὰρ ὁ ἂψ ἐπόρουσε κατακτάμεναι μενεαίνων
Ἔγχεϊ χαλκείῳ· τὸν δ’ ἐξήρπαξ’ Ἀφροδίτη
Ῥεῖα μὰλ’, ὥστε θεός· ἐκάλυψε δ’ ἄρ’ ἠέρι πολλῇ·
Hom. Il. iii. 379.
I trust it will not be deemed irreverent to observe, by way of anticipative answer to any critic who in his wisdom may condemn this Homeric allusion, that, as the Deus ex machinâ is not mine, I do not stand sponsor for Venus, and that the notion of a Frenchman in a fog quite naturally suggested Paris.
XXVI. “Clambering Santa Cruz’s torrid steep.”
—Gravis exustos æstus hiulcat agros.
Catul. lxvi.