DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9260#0208
PHOSEON Lib. V.
Occupat obfejfos Judor mihi frigidus artus $
Cacruleaeque cadunt toto de corpore gut-
tae.
Quaque pedem mo'vi } manat lacus : eque
capillis
Ros cadit: & citius, quam nunc tibi fa&a
renarro, 635
In laticem mutor. fed enim cognofcit ama-
tas
Amnis aquas , pof toque 'viri, quod fumfc-
rat 3 ore,
Vertitur in proprias , ut fe mihi mifceat,
undas.
Delia rumpit humum. caecis ego merfa ca-
vernis
Advehor Ortjgiam : quae me 3 cognomine
Divae 640
Grata meae, fuperas eduxit prima fub au-
ras.
»)
33
33
>i
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
PHOSES>, Book V. 175
The God fo near, a chilly Sweat pofleft
My fainting Limbs, at ev'fy Pore exprcft;
My Strength diftill'd in Drops, my Hair in
Dew,
My Form was chang'd, and all mySubltance
new.
Each Motion was a Stream, and my whole
Frame
Turn'd to a Fount, which flill prcferves my
Name.
Refolv'd I fhou'd not his Embrace efcape,
Again the God refumes his fluid Shape ;
To mix his Streams with mine he fondly tries,
But ftill Diana his Attempt denies -y
She cleaves the Ground; thro' Caverns dark
I run
A difF'rent Current, while he keeps his own.
To dear Ortygla fhe conduces my Way.
And here I firft review the welcome Day.
EXPLICATION OF THE TENTH FABLE.
THe Fable of the Fountain Arethufa , and
the River Alpheus her Lover , who tra-
verfed fo many Countries to follow his Mis-
trefs, has no other Foundation, according to the fa-
mous Bochart(i), but an equivocal Expreffion in the
Language of the firft Inhabitants of Sicily. The Phe-
nicians , who went to fettle in that Ifland , finding
the Fountain furrounded with Willows gave it the
Name of Alphaga, which is as much as to fay the
Fountain of Willows. Others gave it the Name of
Arith which fignifies a Stream. The Greeks, who
arrived fome Ages after, not underftanding the Signi-
fication of thofe Two Words, and remembring their
River Alpheus in Elis> imagined that fince the Ri-
ver and the Fountain had very near the fame Name,
Alpheus muft certainly have crofled the Sea to come*
into Sicily. The Notion appeared very ingenious to
One of the Wits of that Time, and lie compofed >
(1) Chan. Lib. I. Cap.XVUI.
upon that Subject, a Romance of the Loves of the
River-God Alpheus and the Nymph Arethufa. AI-
moft all the ancient Hiftorians have been cheated and
mifled by that Fable , fince they have faid very fe-
rioufly, that the River Alpheus palled through the
Sea, and went afterwards to glide in Sicily near the
Fountain Arethufa. This Fable feems alio to have
gained univerfal Credit •, for we find the Oracle of
jDelphos ordering Archias to conduct a Colony of
Corinthians to SyracufCi and the Prieftefs delivering
herfelf in thefe Terms : Go into that IJland> where
the River Alpheus mixes his Waters with the fair
Arethufa. Paufanias (2) , who looks upon the Hi-
ftory of the Amours of Alpheus and Arethufa as a
Fable, yet led away by the Authority of fo precife
an Oracle, dares not deny that this River runs through
the Sea, tho' he does not fee how fuch a Thing can
happen.
(2) In Eliti.
Fab. XI.
Occupat obfejfos Judor mihi frigidus artus $
Cacruleaeque cadunt toto de corpore gut-
tae.
Quaque pedem mo'vi } manat lacus : eque
capillis
Ros cadit: & citius, quam nunc tibi fa&a
renarro, 635
In laticem mutor. fed enim cognofcit ama-
tas
Amnis aquas , pof toque 'viri, quod fumfc-
rat 3 ore,
Vertitur in proprias , ut fe mihi mifceat,
undas.
Delia rumpit humum. caecis ego merfa ca-
vernis
Advehor Ortjgiam : quae me 3 cognomine
Divae 640
Grata meae, fuperas eduxit prima fub au-
ras.
»)
33
33
>i
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
PHOSES>, Book V. 175
The God fo near, a chilly Sweat pofleft
My fainting Limbs, at ev'fy Pore exprcft;
My Strength diftill'd in Drops, my Hair in
Dew,
My Form was chang'd, and all mySubltance
new.
Each Motion was a Stream, and my whole
Frame
Turn'd to a Fount, which flill prcferves my
Name.
Refolv'd I fhou'd not his Embrace efcape,
Again the God refumes his fluid Shape ;
To mix his Streams with mine he fondly tries,
But ftill Diana his Attempt denies -y
She cleaves the Ground; thro' Caverns dark
I run
A difF'rent Current, while he keeps his own.
To dear Ortygla fhe conduces my Way.
And here I firft review the welcome Day.
EXPLICATION OF THE TENTH FABLE.
THe Fable of the Fountain Arethufa , and
the River Alpheus her Lover , who tra-
verfed fo many Countries to follow his Mis-
trefs, has no other Foundation, according to the fa-
mous Bochart(i), but an equivocal Expreffion in the
Language of the firft Inhabitants of Sicily. The Phe-
nicians , who went to fettle in that Ifland , finding
the Fountain furrounded with Willows gave it the
Name of Alphaga, which is as much as to fay the
Fountain of Willows. Others gave it the Name of
Arith which fignifies a Stream. The Greeks, who
arrived fome Ages after, not underftanding the Signi-
fication of thofe Two Words, and remembring their
River Alpheus in Elis> imagined that fince the Ri-
ver and the Fountain had very near the fame Name,
Alpheus muft certainly have crofled the Sea to come*
into Sicily. The Notion appeared very ingenious to
One of the Wits of that Time, and lie compofed >
(1) Chan. Lib. I. Cap.XVUI.
upon that Subject, a Romance of the Loves of the
River-God Alpheus and the Nymph Arethufa. AI-
moft all the ancient Hiftorians have been cheated and
mifled by that Fable , fince they have faid very fe-
rioufly, that the River Alpheus palled through the
Sea, and went afterwards to glide in Sicily near the
Fountain Arethufa. This Fable feems alio to have
gained univerfal Credit •, for we find the Oracle of
jDelphos ordering Archias to conduct a Colony of
Corinthians to SyracufCi and the Prieftefs delivering
herfelf in thefe Terms : Go into that IJland> where
the River Alpheus mixes his Waters with the fair
Arethufa. Paufanias (2) , who looks upon the Hi-
ftory of the Amours of Alpheus and Arethufa as a
Fable, yet led away by the Authority of fo precife
an Oracle, dares not deny that this River runs through
the Sea, tho' he does not fee how fuch a Thing can
happen.
(2) In Eliti.
Fab. XI.