work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
4151,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry); text from ECCO-TCP.,2003-10-28 00:00:00 UTC,"Of all the Causes which conspire to blind
Man's erring Judgment, and misguide the Mind,
What the weak Head with strongest Byass rules,
Is Pride, the never-failing Vice of Fools.
Whatever Nature has in Worth deny'd,
She gives in large Recruits of needful Pride;
For as in Bodies, thus in Souls, we find
What wants in Blood and Spirits, swell'd with Wind:
Pride, where Wit fails, steps in to our Defence,
And fills up all the mighty Void of Sense!
If once right Reason drives that Cloud away,
Truth breaks upon us with resistless Day;
Trust not your self; but your Defects to know,
Make use of ev'ry Friend--and ev'ry Foe.
(p. 11)",,10679,"","""Of all the Causes which conspire to blind / Man's erring Judgment, and misguide the Mind, / What the weak Head with strongest Byass rules, / Is Pride, the never-failing Vice of Fools.""","",2014-05-08 14:34:02 UTC,Part II
4151,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry); text from ECCO-TCP.,2003-10-28 00:00:00 UTC,"Of all the Causes which conspire to blind
Man's erring Judgment, and misguide the Mind,
What the weak Head with strongest Byass rules,
Is Pride, the never-failing Vice of Fools.
Whatever Nature has in Worth deny'd,
She gives in large Recruits of needful Pride;
For as in Bodies, thus in Souls, we find
What wants in Blood and Spirits, swell'd with Wind:
Pride, where Wit fails, steps in to our Defence,
And fills up all the mighty Void of Sense!
If once right Reason drives that Cloud away,
Truth breaks upon us with resistless Day;
Trust not your self; but your Defects to know,
Make use of ev'ry Friend--and ev'ry Foe.
(p. 11; compare II, ll. 201-214 in 1736)",,10680,"","""For as in Bodies, thus in Souls, we find / What wants in Blood and Spirits, swell'd with Wind: / Pride, where Wit fails, steps in to our Defence, / And fills up all the mighty Void of Sense!""","",2014-05-08 14:41:37 UTC,Part II
4209,"",HDIS,2003-10-26 00:00:00 UTC,"Verse 256. Nor had you seen .]
The Poet here changes his Narration, and turns himself to the Reader in an Apostrophe. Longinus in his 22d Chapter commends this Figure, as causing a Reader to become a Spectator, and keeping his Mind fixed upon the Action before him. The Apostrophe (says he) renders us more awaken'd, more attentive, and more full of the Thing described. Madam Dacier will have it, that it is the Muse who addresses herself to the Poet in the second Person: 'Tis no great matter which, since it has equally its Effect either way.
",,10917,•This is only weakly metaphorical? REVISIT.,"""Longinus in his 22d Chapter commends this Figure, as causing a Reader to become a Spectator, and keeping his Mind fixed upon the Action before him.""","",2009-09-14 19:35:23 UTC,""
4209,"",HDIS,2003-10-26 00:00:00 UTC,"Yet come it will, the Day decreed by Fates;
(How my Heart trembles while my Tongue relates!)
The Day when thou, Imperial Troy ! must bend,
And see thy Warriors fall, thy Glories end.
And yet no dire Presage so wounds my Mind,
My Mother's Death, the Ruin of my Kind,
Not Priam 's hoary Hairs defil'd with Gore,
Not all my Brothers gasping on the Shore;
As thine, Andromache! thy Griefs I dread;
I see thee trembling, weeping, Captive led!
In Argive Looms our Battels to design,
And Woes, of which so large a Part was thine!
To bear the Victor's hard Commands, or bring
The Weight of Waters from Hyperia 's Spring.
There, while you groan beneath the Load of Life,
They cry, Behold the mighty Hector 's Wife!
Some haughty Greek who lives thy Tears to see,
Embitters all thy Woes, by naming me.
The Thoughts of Glory past, and present Shame,
A thousand Griefs shall waken at the Name!
May I lie cold before that dreadful Day,
Press'd with a Load of Monumental Clay!
Thy Hector wrapt in everlasting Sleep,
Shall neither hear thee sigh, nor see thee weep.
(ll. 570-93)
",,10919,"","""And yet no dire Presage so wounds my Mind, / My Mother's Death, the Ruin of my Kind, / Not Priam 's hoary Hairs defil'd with Gore, / Not all my Brothers gasping on the Shore; / As thine, Andromache!""","",2016-05-31 14:27:55 UTC,""
4209,Mind's Eye,HDIS,2003-10-26 00:00:00 UTC,"All Night the Chiefs before their Vessels lay,
And lost in Sleep the Labours of the Day:
All but the King; with various Thoughts opprest,
His Country's Cares lay rowling in his Breast.
As when by Light'nings Jove 's Ætherial Pow'r
Foretells the ratling Hail, or weighty Show'r,
Or sends soft Snows to whiten all the Shore,
Or bids the brazen Throat of War to roar;
By fits one Flash succeeds, as one expires,
And Heav'n flames thick with momentary Fires.
So bursting frequent from Atrides' Breast,
Sighs following Sighs his inward Fears confest.
Now o'er the Fields, dejected, he surveys
From thousand Trojan Fires the mounting Blaze;
Hears in the passing Wind their Music blow,
And marks distinct the Voices of the Foe.
Now looking backwards to the Fleet and Coast,
Anxious he sorrows for th'endanger'd Host.
He rends his Hairs, in sacrifice to Jove ,
And sues to Him that ever lives above:
Inly he groans; while Glory and Despair
Divide his Heart, and wage a doubtful War.
(ll. 1-22)
Verse 3. All but the King , &c.] Homer here with a very small Alteration repeats the Verses which begin the second Book: He introduces Agamemnon with the same Pomp as he did Jupiter ; he ascribes to him the same Watchfulness over Men, as he exercis'd over the Gods, and Jove and Agamemnon are the only Persons awake, while Heaven and Earth are asleep.
Eustathius.
Verse 7. Or sends soft Snows .] Scaliger 's Criticism against this Passage, that it never lightens and snows at the same time, is sufficiently refuted by Experience. See Bossu of the Epic Poem lib. 3. c. 7. and Barnes 's Note on this Place.
Verse 8. Or bids the brazen Throat of War to roar .] There is something very noble and sublime in this Image: The vast Jaws of War is an Expression that very poetically represents the Voraciousness of War, and gives us a lively Idea of an insatiate Monster.
Eustathius.
Verse 9. By fits one Flash succeeds , &c.] It requires some Skill in Homer to take the chief Point of his Similitudes; he has often been misunderstood in that respect, and his Comparisons have frequently been strain'd to comply with the Fancies of Commentators. This Comparison which is brought to illustrate the Frequency of Agamemnon 's Sighs, has been usually thought to represent in general the Groans of the King, whereas what Homer had in his view was only the quick Succession of them.
Verse 13. Now o'er the Fields , &c.] Aristotle answers a Criticism of some Censurers of Homer on this Place. They asked how it was that Agamemnon , shut up in his Tent in the Night, could see the Trojan Camp at one view, and the Fleet at another, as the Poet represents it? It is (says Aristotle ) only a metaphorical manner of Speech; To cast one's Eye , means but to reflect upon , or to revolve in one's Mind: and that employ'd Agamemnon's Thoughts in his Tent, which had been the chief Object of his Eyes the Day before.
Verse 19. He rends his Hairs in sacrifice to Jove. ] I know this Action of Agamemnon has been taken only as a common Expression of Grief, and so indeed it was render'd by Accius , as cited by Tully, Tusc. quæst. l. 3 .Scindens dolore identidem intonsam comam . But whoever reads the Context will, I believe, be of Opinion, that Jupiter is mention'd here on no other Account than as he was apply'd to in the offering of these Hairs, in an humble Supplication to the offended Deity who had so lately manifested his Anger.
",,10921,•I've included verses and the notes on the verses
•INTEREST. Aristotle on metaphor and Agamemnon in his tent.,"""To cast one's Eye, means but to reflect upon, or to revolve in one's Mind""",Eye,2009-09-14 19:35:23 UTC,""
4209,"",HDIS,2003-10-26 00:00:00 UTC,"To him then Hector with Disdain return'd;
(Fierce as he spoke, his Eyes with Fury burn'd)
Are these the faithful Counsels of thy Tongue?
Thy Will is partial, not thy Reason wrong:
Or if the Purpose of thy Heart thou vent,
Sure Heav'n resumes the little Sense it lent.
What coward Counsels would thy Madness move,
Against the Word, the Will reveal'd of Jove ?
The leading Sign, th'irrevocable Nod,
And happy Thunders of the fav'ring God,
These shall I slight? and guide my wav'ring Mind
By wand'ring Birds, that flit with ev'ry Wind?
Ye Vagrants of the Sky! your Wings extend,
Or where the Suns arise, or where descend;
To right, to left, unheeded take your way,
While I the Dictates of high Heav'n obey.
Without a Sign, his Sword the brave Man draws,
And asks no Omen but his Country's Cause.
But why should'st thou suspect the War's Success?
None fears it more, as none promotes it less:
Tho' all our Chiefs amid yon' Ships expire,
Trust thy own Cowardice to 'scape their Fire.
Troy and her Sons may find a gen'ral Grave,
But thou can'st live, for thou can'st be a Slave.
Yet should the Fears that wary Mind suggests
Spread their cold Poison thro' our Soldier's Breasts,
My Javelin can revenge so base a Part,
And free the Soul that quivers in thy Heart.
(ll. 267-94)",,10922,•I've included twice: Poison and Inhabitant,"""Yet should the Fears that wary Mind suggests / Spread their cold Poison thro' our Soldier's Breasts, / My Javelin can revenge so base a Part, / And free the Soul that quivers in thy Heart.""","",2009-09-14 19:35:23 UTC,Hector's Speech
4209,"",HDIS,2003-10-26 00:00:00 UTC,"Ill-fated Paris ! Slave to Womankind,
As smooth of Face as fraudulent of Mind!
Where is Deiphobus , where Asius gone?
The godlike Father, and th'intrepid Son?
The Force of Helenus , dispensing Fate,
And great Othryoneus , so fear'd of late?
Black Fate hangs o'er thee from th'avenging Gods,
Imperial Troy from her Foundations nods;
Whelm'd in thy Country's Ruins shalt thou fall,
And one devouring Vengeance swallow all.
(ll. 965-74)",,10924,•An apples-and-oranges simile...? USAGE.,"""Ill-fated Paris ! Slave to Womankind, / As smooth of Face as fraudulent of Mind""","",2009-09-14 19:35:23 UTC,Hector to Paris
4209,"",HDIS,2003-10-26 00:00:00 UTC,"While thus the Thunder of the Battel rag'd,
And lab'ring Armies round the Works engag'd;
Still in the Tent Patroclus sate, to tend
The good Eurypylus, his wounded Friend.
He sprinkles healing Balmes, to Anguish kind,
And adds Discourse, the Med'cine of the Mind.
But when he saw, ascending up the Fleet,
Victorious Troy: Then, starting from his Seat,
With bitter Groans his Sorrows he exprest,
He wrings his Hands, he beats his manly Breast.
Tho' yet thy State require Redress (he cries)
Depart I must: What Horrors strike my Eyes?
Charg'd with Achilles' high Commands I go,
A mournful Witness of this Scene of Woe:
I haste to urge him, by his Country's Care,
To rise in Arms, and shine again in War.
Perhaps some fav'ring God his Soul may bend;
The Voice is pow'rful of a faithful Friend.",,10930,"","""He sprinkles healing Balmes, to Anguish kind, / And adds Discourse, the Med'cine of the Mind.""","",2009-09-14 19:35:24 UTC,""
4209,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-06-01 00:00:00 UTC,"Verse 395. Glad Earth perceives, &c.]
It is an Observation of Aristotle in the 25th Chapter of his Poeticks, that when Homer is obliged to describe any thing of itself absurd or too improbable, he constantly contrives to blind and dazle the Judgment of his Readers with some shining Description. This Passage is a remarkable Instance of that Artifice, for having imagined a Fiction of very great Absurdity, that the supreme Being should be laid asleep in a female Embrace, he immediately, as it were to divert his Reader from reflecting on his Boldness, pours forth a great Variety of poetical Ornaments; by describing the various Flowers the Earth shoots up to compose their Couch, the golden Clouds that encompass'd them, and the bright heavenly Dews that were shower'd round them. Eustathius observes it as an Instance of Homer's modest Conduct in so delicate an Affair, that he has purposely adorn'd the Bed of Jupiter with such a Variety of beautiful Flowers, that the Reader's Thoughts being entirely taken up with these Ornaments, might have no room for loose Imaginations. In the same manner an ancient Scholiast has observ'd, that the golden Cloud was contriv'd to lock up this Action from any farther Enquiry of the Reader.",,10971,"•That the thoughts being taken up with one thing will have no room for loose imaginations, is hilarious! INTEREST.","Aristotle observes, ""that when Homer is obliged to describe any thing of itself absurd or too improbable, he constantly contrives to blind and dazle the Judgment of his Readers with some shining Description.""","",2009-09-14 19:35:26 UTC,""
4208,"",Reading,2009-12-28 04:56:52 UTC,"Not with more Glories, in th' Ethereal Plain,
The Sun first rises o'er the purpled Main,
Than issuing forth, the Rival of his Beams
Launch'd on the Bosom of the Silver Thames.
Fair Nymphs, and well-drest Youths around her shone,
But ev'ry Eye was fix'd on her alone.
On her white Breast a sparkling Cross she wore,
Which Jews might kiss, and Infidels adore.
Her lively Looks a sprightly Mind disclose,
Quick as her Eyes, and as unfix'd as those:
Favours to none, to all she Smiles extends,
Oft she rejects, but never once offends.
Bright as the Sun, her Eyes the Gazers strike,
And, like the Sun, they shine on all alike.
Yet graceful Ease, and Sweetness void of Pride,
Might hide her Faults, if Belles had Faults to hide:
If to her share some Female Errors fall,
Look on her Face, and you'll forget 'em all.
(p. 223, II, ll. 1-18)",,17601,Deleted entry attached to duplicate work. Reassigned to this edition.,"""Her lively Looks a sprightly Mind disclose, / Quick as her Eyes, and as unfix'd as those.""","",2009-12-28 04:59:10 UTC,Canto II