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ARCADIA.

BOOK FIRST.

THE GAULS.

*

A LITTLE before the autumnal Equinox, Tira teus, a shepherd of Arcadia, was, feeding his flock on one of the heights of Mount Lyceum, which projects along the gulph of Messenia. He was seated under the shade of some pine-trees at the foot of a rock, from whence he contemplated, at a distance, the Sea agitated by the winds of the South. It's olive-coloured waves were whitened with foam, which fell back in girandoles the whole length of the strand. The fishing boats, appearing and disappearing alternately between the swelling surges, ventured, at the risk of running aground on the beach, to trust their safety to their insignificance; whereas large vessels, in full sail, under, the violent pressure of the winds, kept at a cautious distance, from the dread of being ship wrecked. At the bottom of the gulph, crowds of women and children raised their hands to Heaven, and uttered the cries of solicitude at sight of the danger which threatened those poor mariners, and of the succession of billows which rolled from the sea, and broke with a noise like thunder on the *rocks of Steniclaros. The echoes of Mount Ly ceum reverberated their hoarse and confused roarings from all quarters, with so much exactness that Tirteus

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Tirteus, at times turned round his head, imagining that the tempest was behind him, and that the Sea was breaking on the top of the mountain. But the cries of the coots and the sea-gulls, which came flapping their wings to seek refuge there, and the flashes of lightning which furrowed the Horizon, soon made him sensible that safety was on the dry land, and that the tempest was still more dreadful at a distance than it appeared to his view.

Tirteus compassionated the destiny of seamen, and pronounced that of the shepherd to be blessed, as it in some degree resembled that of the Gods by placing tranquillity in his heart, and the tempest under his feet.

While he was expressing his gratitude to Heaven, two men of a noble deportment appeared on the great road which winded below, toward the base of the mountain. One of them was in the * full vigour of life, and the other still in the bloom of youth. They were walking with great speed, like travellers impatient to reach their object. As soon as they were within hearing, the elder of the * two called to Tirteus, asking if they were not on the road to Argos. But the noise of the wind among the pines preventing his voice from being heard, the younger ascended towards the shepherd, and cried aloud to him: "Father, are we not upon "the road to Argos?" "My son," replied Tirteus, "I do not know where Argos lies. You are in °° Arcadia, upon the road to Tegeum, and these "towers which you see before you are the towers "of Bellemine." While they were talking, a shagged dog, young and frolicsome, which accom

panied the stranger, having perceived in the flock a she-goat entirely white, ran up to play with her; but the goat, terrified at the sight of this animal, whose eyes were covered all over with hair, fled toward the top of the mountain, and the dog pursued her. The young man recalled his dog, which immediately returned to his feet, lowering his head and wagging his tail. He then slipped a leach round the dog's neck, and begging the shepherd to hold him fast, he ran after the goat, which still continued to flee before him; his dog however seeing him ready to disappear, gave so violent a jerk to Tirteus, that he made his escape with the leach about his neck, and ran with such speed, that in a short time, neither goat, traveller, nor dog were to be seen.

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The traveller who had remained on the highway, was preparing to follow his companion, when the shepherd thus addressed him: Sir, the weather is boisterous, night approaches, the forest and "the mountain are full of quagmires, in which you may be in danger of losing yourself. Come

"and repose yourself a while in my cottage, which "is not far from hence. I am perfectly sure that my goat, which is very tame, will return of herself, and bring back your friend to us, provided "he does not lose sight of her." In saying these words he applied his pipe to his mouth, and the flock immediately began to file off by a path toward the summit of the mountain. A large ram marched at the head of this little flock: he was followed by six she-goats, whose dugs almost touched the ground; twelve ewes accompanied by

their lambs, which were already considerably grown, came next; a she-ass and a colt closed the procession.

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The stranger followed Tirteus in silence. They ascended about six hundred paces, along an open down planted here and there with broom and rosemary: as they were entering the forest of oaks, which covers the top of Mount Lyceum, they heard the barking of a dog; soon after they descried the young man's shock running toward them, followed by his master, who carried the white goat on his shoulders. Tirteus said to him: "My son, though "this goat is dearer to me than any other of the "whole flock, I would rather have lost her than "that you should have endured so much fatigue in recovering her; but if you please, you shall this night repose in my cottage; and to-morrow, if you are "resolved to continue your journey, I will con"duct you to Tegeum, where you may be inform"ed of the road to Argos. Notwithstanding, Sirs, "if I may be permitted to advise, you will not depart from hence to-morrow, it is the feast of Jupiter, celebrated on Mount Lyceum, and people assemble here in multitudes from all Ar

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cadia, and from a great part of Greece. If you

are so good as to accompany me thither, when I "present myself at the altar of Jupiter, I shall be "rendered more acceptable by adoring him in a

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company with my guests." The young stranger replied: "Oh, good shepherd: we accept with "cheerfulness your hospitality for this night, but "to-morrow with the dawn we must pursue our 'journey toward Argos. We have for a long

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"time been contending with the waves, in order "to ach that city so celebrated over the whole earth, for it's for it's temples, for it's palaces, and from it's being the residence of the great Aga "memon."

After he had thus spoken, they crossed a part of the forest of Mount Lyceum toward the East, and descended into a little valley sheltered from the winds. A fresh and downy herbage covered the sides of it's hills. At the bottom flowed a rivulet called Achelöus, which falls into the river Alpheus, whose islands, covered with alder and linden-trees, are perceptible at a distance from the plain. The

* There were in Greece several rivers and rivulets which bare this name. Care must be tak not to confound the brook which issued from Mount Lyceum, with the river of that name, which descended from Mount Pindus, and which separated Etolia from Acarnania, This River Achelous, as the fable goes, changed himself into a Bull, in order to dispute with Hercules the possession of Deianira, daughter of **Oeneus King of Etolia, But Hercules having seized him by one of his horns, broke it off; and, the disarmed River was obliged to replace the lost horn, by assuming one taken from the head of the goat Amalthea. The Greeks were accustomed to veil natural truths under ingenious fictions. The meaning of the fable in question is this: The Greeks gave the name of Achelöus to several rivers, from the word Ayíλn, which signifies herd of oxen, either on account of the bellowing noise of their waters, or rather because their heads usually separated, like those of oxen, into horns or branches, which facilitate their confluence into each other, or into the Sea, as has been observed in the preceding Studies. Now the Achelöus being liable to inundations, Hercules the friend of Oeneus, King of Etolia, formed a canal for receiving the superflux of that river, according to Strabo's account, which weakened one of it's streams, and gave birth to the fa bulous idea, that Hercules had broken off one of his horns. But as, on the other hand, there resulted from this canal a source of abundant fertility to the adjacent country, the Greeks added that Achelöus, in place of his bull's horn, had taken in exchange that of the goat Amalthea, which, as is well known, was the symbol of plenty.

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