It is fingular, that Virgil's account of this part of Sicily should be so very different from that of Homer, when there was fo fhort a space, only a few months, between the times that their two heroes vifited it. Indeed, Virgil feems to have followed the hiftorians, in his conduct of this part of his poem, more than the fentiments of Homer; who makes this very country where Æneas was so hospitably received, the habitation of Polyphemus and the Cyclops, where Ulyffes loft fo many of his companions, and himself made so very narrow an escape. The ifland of Licofia where he moored his fleet, lay very near the port of Drepanum, and Homer describes the adventure of Polyphemus to have happened on the shore of Sicily, oppofite to that ifland. Virgil has taken the liberty to change the scene of action, as he was better acquainted both with the geography and history of the country than Homer; and perhaps with a good deal of propriety places it at the foot of mount Etna. I am afraid there is not fo much propriety in his changing the action itself, and contradicting the account that Homer gives of it. For Ulyffes fays that Polyphemus devoured four of his companions; but that he, by his addrefs, faved all the reft, and was himself the last that efcaped out of the cave. Now Virgil makes Ulyffes to have told a lie, for he affirms that he left Achemenides behind him; and Achemenides too gives a different account of this affair from Ulyffes: he affures Eneas, that Polyphemus devoured only two of his companions; after which they put out his eye, (acuto telo) with a sharp weapon; which rather gives the idea of a spear or javelin, than that of a great beam of wood made red hot in the fire, as Homer defcribes it. But there are many fuch paffages. Don't you think they seem either to indicate a negligence in Virgil, or a want of deference for his master? neither of which, I believe, he has ever been accused of.. The Sicilian authors are by no means pleased with Virgil for making Æneas the founder of this temple of Venus Erecina. They will only allow that the colony which he was obliged to leave there, after the burning of his ships, did, in honour of his mother Venus, build the city of Eryx around her temple: but they all insist upon it, that the temple was built by Eryx, or as they call him Erice, another fon of Venus, but much older than Æneas; the fame that was found to be fo equal a match for Hercules, but was at laft killed by him, at a boxing match near the foot of this mountain. The fpot where this is supposed to have happened, ftill retains the name of (il campo di Hercole) the field of Hercules. Through the whole fifth book of the Æneid, this Eryx is ftiled the brother of Æneas; and, in his account of the games, Virgil introduces those very gauntlets with which he fought with Hercules, (in hoc ipfo littore) in this very field. The fight of which, from their enormous fize, aftonishes the whole hoft, and frightens the champion Dares fo much that he refufes to fight. Adieu. The The opera begins in two days; after which, I think, we fhall foon take leave of Sicily. Ever your's. LETTER XXXII. Palermo, July 21ft. YESTERDAY we walked up to the Monte Pelegrino to pay our refpe&ts to St. Rofolia, and thank her for the variety of entertainment she has afforded us. It is one of the most fatiguing expeditions I ever made in my life. The mountain is extremely high, and so uncommonly steep, that the road up to it is very properly termed la Scala, or the Stair: before the discovery of St. Rofolia, it was looked upon as almost inacceffible, but they have now at a vast expence cut out a road, over precipices that were almost perpendicular. We found the faint lying in her grotto, in the very fame attitude in which she is faid to have been discovered; her head reclining gently upon her hand, and a crucifix before her. This is a ftatue of the finest white marble, and of most exquifite workmanship. It is placed in the inner part of the cavern, on the very same spot where St. Rofolia expired. It is the figure of a lovely young girl of about fifteen, in an act of devotion. The artist has found means to throw something that is extremely touching, into the countenance and air of this beautiful ftatue. I never in my life faw one that affected me fo much, and am not surprised that it should have captivated the hearts of the people. It is covered with a robe of beaten gold, and is adorned with fome valuable jewels. The cave is of a confiderable extent, and extremely damp, fo that the poor little faint must have had very cold uncomfortable quarters. They have built a church around it ; and appointed priests to watch over these precious relics, and receive the offerings of pilgrims that vifit them. An infcription graved by the hand of St. Rofolia herself, was found in a cave in mount Quefquina, at a confiderable distance from this mountain. It is faid that she was disturbed in her retreat there, and had wandered from thence to mount Pelegrino, as a more retired and inacceffible place. I fhall copy it exactly, as it is preferved in the poor little faint's own Latin. EGO ROSOLIA IN HOC ANTRO HABITA RI DECREVI. After St. Rofolia was fcared from the cave where this infcription was found, fhe was never more heard of, till her bones were found about five hundred years after, in this spot. |