To that unmoving band—the . . .
[558] 1827.
1822.
. . . and unbind;
FOOTNOTES:
[IS] Persepolis, the capital city of Persia, "the glory of the East," was destroyed by Alexander the Great (see Quintus Curtius, book v. chaps. 6, 7), and is now, for the most part, a mass of ruins. In the staircase leading up to the Great Hall of Xerxes, the mural decorations include "colossal warriors, combats with wild beasts, processions, and the like." Compare Fergusson's Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis restored.—Ed.
[IT] Compare Leviticus xxiii. 34, 40-43; also Nehemiah viii. 14, 15.—Ed.
[IU] The Temple of Jupiter Ammon (or Hammon)—the ruins of which still exist—was, in the centre of an oasis of the Libyan Desert, twelve days' journey from Memphis, according to Pliny. In Diodorus Siculus (book xvii. c. 5), in Strabo (book xvii. cc. 37 and 43), and in Herodotus (book iv. 181), the Temple is described; but a fuller account—and the one which probably suggested to Wordsworth some part of his description in the text—will be found in Quintus Curtius, which records the visit of Alexander the Great to consult the oracle:—"Tandem ad sedem consecratam deo ventum est. Incredibile dictu, inter vastas solitudines sita, undique ambientibus ramis, vix in densam umbram cadente sole, contecta est, multique fontes, dulcibus aquis passim manantibus, alunt silvas. Coelique quoque mira temperies, verno tepori maxime similis, omnes anni partes pari salubritate percurrit....
"Est et aliud Hammonis nemus: in medio habet fontem (Solis aquam vocant): sub lucis ortum tepida manat, medio die, cujus vehementissimus est calor, frigida eadem fluit, inclinato in vesperam calescit, media nocte fervida exaestuat, quoque nox propius vergit ad lucem, multum ex nocturno calore decrescit, donec sub ipsum diei ortum assueto tepore languescat.... Hunc, cum responsum petitur, navigio aurato gestant sacerdotes, multis argenteis pateris ab utroque navigii latere pendentibus: sequuntur matronae virginesque, patrio more inconditum quoddam carmen canentes, quo propitiari Jovem credunt, ut certum edat oraculum."[550]—Q. Curtius Rufus, De Gestis Alex., iv. 31 (ed. Zumpt). The sentence italicised and translated makes it clear that Wordsworth was dealing in this instance with the text of Quintus Curtius, as he dealt with that of Herodotus, for example, in The Excursion, when he described the