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XXXV.
Above the cold Olympus snowy height,
And leafy Ida's ever-verdant Hill,
Was built th'imperial Palace, Starry bright;
Whose vaulted Dome the Gods assembled fill:
345 The Seats[2] of Heav'n, at Jove's commanding Nod,
Marshall'd themselves, miraculous to view!
Each golden Throne wrought by the Blacksmith God,
Spontaneous took its Rank in order due;
Above the cold Olympus snowy height,
And leafy Ida's ever-verdant Hill,
Was built th'imperial Palace, Starry bright;
Whose vaulted Dome the Gods assembled fill:
345 The Seats[2] of Heav'n, at Jove's commanding Nod,
Marshall'd themselves, miraculous to view!
Each golden Throne wrought by the Blacksmith God,
Spontaneous took its Rank in order due;
- ↑ v. 340. And all the base-born.] Homer always expresses a great kindness for Bastards, of which we need desire no stronger Proof than his filling Heaven with them. On the other side he makes Marriage and Discord inseparable, and Jupiter and Juno are for ever scolding. Here not the Moral, but the Allegory is to be observed.
- ↑ v. 345. The Seats.] Vulcan's Workmanship being animated, does not deviate at all from Probability; because a God can do more difficult Things than these, and all Matter will obey him. Besides Aristotle assures us, the Wonderful is the distinguishing Character of Epic, and proceeds therein even to the Unreasonable. A Remark as just and well-grounded as any in his whole Art of Poetry.
And
