It is hardly necessary to observe that this is the king of Abyssinia, who was formerly so called, it is supposed, as uniting the royal and priestly character. Our ‘Priest’ is no doubt a corruption of ‘presto,’ as Prester John is of ‘Prete janni.’
Upon this hill, which well-nigh kissed the skies, &c.
Stanza cx. line 1.
Not only Dante (I believe on authority to be found in the fathers) has assigned a seat to paradise, but it is laid down in the mappa mondo of Fra Mauro, that wonderful monument of genius and industry, in which so many geographical discoveries are anticipated.
“And I to build thee, in my royal hold,
“A holy temple, made of marble, swear, &c.
“Nor angel, &c.
“Offer these vows to God, &c.
“To him thy churches build, thine altars rear,” &c.
Stanza cxvi. cxvii. cxviii.
Imitated from the dialogue between Æneas and the Sibyl in Ovid.
“Templa tibi statuam, tribuam tibi thuris honores.”
“—Nec dea sum certe; nec sacri thuris honore
“Humanum dignare caput,” &c.
All bear a female face of pallid dye, &c.
Stanza cxx. line 1.
In this description, the only addition to Virgil’s, as well as Ovid’s, picture is the tail, which Ariosto has not very happily hung upon his harpies. The strange representations which we have seen of exotic bats, with monkey-faces, may justify the rest; but there is, I believe, no precedent in the book of nature for the tail. Moreover a snake-tail seems a most unfit and unmanageable appendage for a bird.
