criticise too closely, as the poet elsewhere in the poem tells of a fleet of Theseus prior to the Argonautic expedition:—
Soon as to oarsmen's harrow frothed the wave,
Forth from the eddying whiteness Nereids shone,
With faces set—strange sight to look upon.
Then, only then, might mortal vision rest
On naked sea-nymph, lifting rosy breast
High o'er the billows' foam. 'Twas then the flame
Of love for Thetis Peleus first o'ercame:
Then Thetis deigned a mortal spouse to wed!
Then Jove approved, and their high union sped."
—D.
The poet having thus introduced the betrothal, as it were, of the goddess and the hero, pauses, ere he plunges into his subject, to apostrophise heroes and heroines in general, and more especially the twain immediately concerned: Peleus, for whom the very susceptible father of the gods had waived his own penchant for Thetis; Peleus, the stay and champion of Thessaly; and Thetis, most beautiful of ocean's daughters, and grandchild of earth-girding Tethys and her lord Oceanus—a fitting proem to the action of the poem, which commences with no further delay. We see all Thessaly come forth to do honour and guest-service to the nuptials, gifts in their hands, and joy and gladness in their countenances. Scyros and Phthia's Tempo, Cranon, and Larissa's towers are all deserted on that day, for the Pharsalian home where high festival and a goodly solemnity is kept. A lively
