660 waist, changed into frightful monsters like dogs, always barking: this sudden metamorphosis so terrified her, that she threw herself into that part of the sea which separates the coast of Italy from Sicily, where she was changed into rocks, which bear her name, and are very dangerous to navigators, as well as the whirlpool of Charybdis, on the coast of Sicily.... in the sea that parts. The Straits of Messina, between Sicily and Italy. 661 Calabria. A province of the kingdom of Naples in Italy. The name Trinacria was given to the Island of Sicily, from its triangular figure, and its three capes, which are Capo di Baco, Cape Pasaro, and Cape Pelorus. 665 With Lapland witches. Lapland, a country in the north of Europe. The people were formerly addicted to magical superstition, and supposed to deal with familiar spirits; but now forbidden by their laws, since they embraced christianity. A, D. 1275. 692 Drew after him the third part of heaven's sons. His cruelty, his subtilty, his experience in all the arts of destruction, are pointed out with dreadful propriety, in the old serpent, the great dragon; but, formidable as his violence, or artful and potent as the confederacy of infernal spirits may be, here is a victory gained over him, which calls for the congratulation of all the armies of the Lord: the dragon and his angels are cast out; the saints are enabled to triumph over him, feeble and impotent as they are: however persecution may attack and harrass them, let them be courageous and undaunted, not loving their lives, even to the death, in the cause of Christ; for, though they fall, they shall rise again to certain victory and glory; nor shall death bring down their heads so low, as to render them unworthy of wearing a crown of eternal life. 701 Lest, with a whip of scorpions, I pursue. For, whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. 2 Chron. x. 11. 709 That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge. A northern constellation, called the serpent, consisting of twenty-nine stars. The fable is taken from Hercules, who squeezed two serpents to death in his cradle; or, from Esculapius, whom they worshipped under the form of a serpent. Here it means the dragon, a northern constellation, which astronomers call Hercules, Esculapius, and Serpentarius. 716 Over the Caspian. The Caspian Sea, in Asia, is, properly, an immense lake, having no connection with any other portion of water. 722 For never, but once more, was either like To meet so great a foe: He will swallow up death in victory: and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away 760 from off all the earth; for the Lord God hath spoken it. Isaiah, xxv. 8. and called me, sin. It is a consideration, which must carry awe and solemnity, grief and lamentation, throughout all ages, that, by one man, sin entered into the world; and death made such a progress, by the entrance of sin, as to pass upon all men in consequence of that act. O God, how terrible are thy judgments; and yet, how rich thy compassion, in appointing the second Adam to repair the ruin and dissolution of the first; yea, more than to repair them, to deliver us from all our most aggravated transgressions, if we believe in him, and receive the gift of righteousness; to cause us to reign in life by him; to bring us to a more exalted and secure happiness than Adam himself enjoyed in the day which he was created, or than Eden, the garden of God, could afford! I fled, and cried out, death. Thrice welcome death! That, after many a painful, bleeding step, By unperceived degrees he wears away; 858 Into this gloom of Tartarus profound. BLAIR. The place of punishment for the wicked, in the infernal regions. 875 Which, but herself, not all the Stygian powers. Belonging to the river Styx, infernal. 883 Of Erebus. The poets often used the word Erebus, to signify the place of torment itself, particularly that part where dwelt the souls of those that had led a virtuous life, from whence they passed into the Elysian fields. 890 Before their eyes, in sudden view, appear. 1 894 A land of darkness, as darkness itself, and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness. Job, x. 22. where eldest night And Chaos, ancestors of nature. The mass of matter, from which all things were made. 904 Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil. Two cities of Lybia Cyrenaica, in Africa. 916 His dark materials to create more worlds. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. Genesis, i. 2. 922 The goddess of war; she prepared the chariot and horses for Mars, when he went to battle. 939 Quench'd in a boggy Syrtis. Sand banks, dangerous in navigation. 943 As when a gryphon. A fabulous, terrible and rapacious bird; said to be partly like an eagle, and partly like a lion. Guardians of hidden gold; and dedicated to Apollo, the god and maker of gold. To this monster the poet compares Satan. i. 945 Pursues the Arimaspiam, "Say A Arimaspias, a river of Scythia, with golden sands. They say, that the neighhouring inhabitants have but one eye, in the middle of the forehead; and wage continual war against the griffins, monstrous animals that collect the gold of the rivers. 964 Orcus and Ades. Titles of Pluto, said to be the king of the lower regions. hom 1017 than when Argo pass'd. The name of the famous ship, which carried Jason and his fifty-four companions to Colchis, when they resolved to recover the golden fleece. This ship was the first that ever sailed on the sea, as some report. |