Spence, Joseph; Tindal, Nicholas [Hrsg.]; Dodsley, James [Bearb.]: A Guide To Classical Learning: Or, Polymetis Abridged: Containing, I. By Way of Introduction, the Characters of the Latin Poets and their Work ... II. An Inquiry concerning the Agreement between the Works of the Roman Poets and the Remains of the Antient Artists ... Being a Work absolutely necessary, not only for the Right Understanding of the Classics, but also for forming in Young Minds a True Taste for the Beauties of Poetry, Sculpture, and Painting (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1786)

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The Musical Apollo presided over poetry
and the muses. He is called either Vates or
Lyristes; music and poetry in the earliest ages
making but one profession. Sometimes he is
naked, with his hair collected over his forehead,
with his lyre in one hand, and his ple&rum in the
other, and sometimes, in particular, leaning on a
rock. At other times he is dressed in a long robe,
with his hair all ssowing down at full length, and
crowned with laurel, the distinguilhing habit of
this Apollo e.
he compares ZEneas (when going a-hunting) to this God. Whe-
ther Virgil, in his companion, had this statue in his eye or not,
they both relate to the Apollo Venator, dressed finer than usual,
and both in the poet, and in the marble, he is represented as the
standard of beauty. This beauty and his motion are the two prin-
cipal points aimed at by Virgil, and the chief things that strike
one in viewing the Apollo Belvidere, JEn. iv. v. 150. Max. Tyr.
Dissert. 72. Stat. Achil. 1. i. v. 166.
e The poets, especially of the Augustine age, are very full in
their descriptions of him, Propert. iii. el. 3. v. 14. Ovid, de Art.
Am. ii. v. 496. Id. iii. v. 142. Id. i. el. 8. v. 60. Met. xi. v.
169. Tibul. iii. el. 4. v. 42. 91. In this dress Apollo is suppofed
to appear at the feasts of Jupiter, particularly at the solemn one
after the defeat of Saturn j under which character he may be
called the Festal Apollo, Tibul. 1. ii. el. 5. v. 10. Thus too the
poets, or musicians of old, weie dressed when they sung to the lyre
at the table of princes, as lopas was at Dido’s feast, Cy thara cri-
nitus lopas personat aurata—Jin. i. v. 741. lopas is here styled
Crinitus, which implies his being dressed like the Festal Apollo.
Had Mr. Addison been aware of this, he could not have called Cri-
nitus here i( an epithet quite foreign to the purpose.” A strong
instance of the use of being acquainted with the ancient customs of
the Romans, and appearances of their gods, on such and such oc-
cafions, towards understanding the poets. See Disc. on ancient and
modern learning, p. 6.

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