Of Hermes, and of Pallas azure-eyed.
So saying, he penetrated deep again 765
The abode of Pluto; but I still unmoved
There stood expecting, curious, other shades
To see of Heroes in old time deceased.
And now, more ancient worthies still, and whom
I wish'd, I had beheld, Pirithoüs 770
And Theseus, glorious progeny of Gods,
But nations, first, numberless of the dead
Came shrieking hideous; me pale horror seized,
Lest awful Proserpine should thither send
The Gorgon-head from Ades, sight abhorr'd! 775
I, therefore, hasting to the vessel, bade
My crew embark, and cast the hawsers loose.
They, quick embarking, on the benches sat.
Down the [1]Oceanus the current bore
My galley, winning, at the first, her way 780
With oars, then, wafted by propitious gales.
- ↑ The two first lines of the following book seem to ascertain the true meaning of the conclusion of this, and to prove sufficiently that by Ὠκεανὸς here, Homer could not possibly intend any other than a river. In those lines he tells us in the plainest terms, that the ship left the stream of the river Oceanus, and arrived in the open sea. Diodorus Siculus informs us that Ὠκεανὸς had been a name anciently given to the Nile. See Clarke.
ARGU-
