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Professer Grotefend challenges for comparison with the lament of Ezekiel over Tyre: to make the parallel closer, we adopt the Scripture phraseology in our English version, and place, like the author, the two passages in juxta-position :

"The Song of Sidon, by Sanchoniatho.

"1. Hath the sea rolled thee as a pearl to the shore? or hast thou descended from Heaven as a shooting star?

"2. The earth shines in thy lustre, and thy beauty is reflected from the waves of the sea. When thou, O Queen of the waters! lookest round upon thy ships, thou rejoicest as a fortunate mother at the sight of her children.

"3. But lift up thine eyes afar! Tears shall roll down thy cheeks to water the land; and the sea shall resound with the voice of thy wailing.

"4. For thy ships are broken to pieces in Tartessus, and the best of thy sons are laid on a foreign shore, a prey to the vulture and the fishes!"

The passages quoted from Ezekiel (chap. xxvii.) by Dr. Grotefend, are as follows:

"3, 4. O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.

:

"9, 10. The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. They of Persia, and of Lud, and of Phut, were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.

"26. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.

"27. Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin."

We can understand the Prophet of Israel denouncing the fall of Tyre, but we strongly doubt the expediency or the judgment of a Royal Scribe of Zidon predicting the ruin of his own country in the ear of her King, unless he meant also to include his own. The passage, however, is obviously that kind of imitation which follows, but shuns contact with, an admired original; and endeavours to supply the stern simplicity of detail so natural in the mouth of an exulting enemy, and the deep-collected force of taunt, triumph, and denunciation, that mark the utterance of prophetic retribution, by a studied antithesis, a collection of lighter and more delicate imagery from the same sources, varied with Persian and other prettyisms of

thought and language, some absolutely erroneous and impossible; as that of the pearl, not the oyster, rolled to the shore.

Again, we have the following passage :—

"Sanchoniatho quotes (c. 10.) a passage from the Book of Songs, where he (Balmachanes) expresses his feelings during his banishment :'Ammisus drove me forth; my servants mocked me. But my servants would I scourge, and slay even Ammisus. Once I sat on Tyrian purple, and my garment was of the silk of Babylon; now is the rock my house, and my garment is the desert. But think ye that I shudder when darkness sinks afar, and the storm rushes through the trees (Tερiρxεтαι tà dévèpa) as a roaring beast? or that I shrink from the light of moonshine on the mountains, or from the yellow gleams (VTо Twν TEλidvwv Tроσшπш) that dart forth from every clod? Is the lion heartless in the darkness of his lair, or have ye seen the boar in dismay? The wildboar wanders fearless through the mountain-clifts, and the roaring of the lion makes every foe to quake.' ”—(page 48.)

These two short flights, during which at least a stronger spirit might have kept the wing, are evidently failures; and, we think, as evidently imitations. There is but another, which will appear in its place, as we proceed to give the legend of the Tyrian Hercules" taken from the Sacred Songs which Sanchoniatho had heard in his youth."

Melikertes (more probably, we should say, y, the orientalism, King of the World) and Isroas, the sons of Demaroon, differed about a maiden whom the latter had taken prisoner, and who, being allowed the liberty of choice, preferred the beautiful person of the former to his hideous rival. The rejected suitor made war upon his brother; and he, who to his other accomplishments added that of poetry also, vainly endeavoured to soften his antagonist with the following song:

"Hawk may slay hawk, and the falling cedar of the mountains smite her sister to the ground. Wherefore art thou desirous of strife? wherefore encampest thou against thy brother? Thou knowest me as a warrior, yet will I not engage against thee in battle. Are we not two streams, oh brother, poured out from the same source? Wherefore then, seekest thou, oh Isroas! war and battle against me?"

This remonstrance, however, did not soften the rejected: finding his efforts fruitless to capture the place, Isroas destroyed the fair cause of quarrel with an arrow from a distance (!). Her husband mourned three days for the dead, after which, quitting with his followers the country of the Kabiri, he assisted the natives of Kittium in war, and then left them, in order to avoid the gratitude which would have made him their king; sailing to the opposite coast, where reigned his uncle Jurus. The assem

bly of the blind sages is most strikingly described:” (in the songs alluded to, we suppose).

Jurus dying, left his kingdom to the hero, with a prophecy that he, first of mortals, should behold the ends of the earth, and be received by Kronos and the immortals as their equal. He set forth accordingly, but was shipwrecked on a coast that supplied no wood fit for building a fresh vessel. This shipwreck must have been (we are told) on the western coast of Italy, for Ersiphonia,, (so written,) which they next reached by tracking the sea coast, lay at the foot of a mountain called Libanus,

, on the Ligurian shores. As Melikertes was aware that this was a holy mountain and the seat of the gods, he made his companions remain below, while he, after the fashion of Moses, ascended the mountain and offered sacrifice. The parallel is increased by his remaining there forty days. At the end of this time, returning to his companions, he found they had in the interval built a new vessel on the banks of a large river, which could be no other than the Rhone, for he had journeyed five days after leaving the mountain before he could rejoin his compa

nions.

Melikertes alone had ascended this formidable height, for serpents of fearful size infested the clefts and hollows at its base, and dreadful forms were seen amongst the trees of the forests. Clouds and darkness veiled the midst of the ascent; the tops were covered with eternal snow and high above was the seat of the gods. The hero now put to sea, and landed on an island covered with black cattle, of which he stood in great need; but their owner, Obybakros, px, refusing to part with any, he was compelled to employ force: and this adventure recalls the oxen of Geryon. The Greeks then (we learn) must have taken the legend from the Phoenicians, as they agree on the locality also, which was the Balearic Islands.

Departing hence, the hero suffered shipwreck once more, and on an island so covered with impenetrable forests, that, he himself falling sick, none of his companions had spirit enough to go to the chase in spite of their hunger,-for the air was filled with noises like the roaring of wild beasts. They lived, therefore, on fish and muscles, which were fortunately plentiful on the coast.

The faint-heartedness of his followers roused the spirit of their leader, and in spite of his illness he sought the danger. He found a sleeping beauty in the forest, who, waking at his approach, invited him nearer. The hero accepted the courtesy, but, oh wonder! her legs were two fearful serpents. She stated herself to be an attendant of the snake-queen, Leiathana, to whose cave the hero followed her, and found this princess sur

rounded by similar shapes. The queen informed him that she was confined there by the magic songs or spells (was) of Masisabas; but, recognizing in Melikertes her deliverer, she directed him to proceed to Tartessus, at the ends of the earth, and, after slaying her oppressor, to seize his treasures. She gave him also at his departure an unerring bow.

Melikertes steered for the appointed land, and finally reached it; Masisabas came forth to battle; he was a skilful and formidable warrior, and taller than his adversary by the head,-the latter also broke his bow while aiming an arrow at the tyrant : he succeeded, however, in pinning him to a tree with his lance. The treasure was duly seized, and found to be enormous; the neighbouring people also came forward and rewarded the victors with honours and gold.

From these people the daring voyagers learned that they were in the vicinity of the wide ocean, beyond the limits of the earth. They lost no time in completing the object of their labours, and were everywhere gratefully received by the ignorant natives, who, freed from the tyranny of Masisabas, and admiring the superior knowledge, skill, and cultivation of the leader and crew, and arts to which themselves were total strangers, erected temples and altars to the hero himself as a god, and deemed his companions deities also, though of inferior class.

Melikertes erected pillars on the mountains on either side of the strait "as the first who had reached the limits of the land. Before all the Sydonians and Tyrians he had touched the shore of the boundless ocean." In subsequent times, when these pillars, bearing the name of Melikertes, had fallen to decay, the Grecian Hercules set up those columns as land-marks on the heights of Ceuta and Gibraltar, that still record his later achieve

ment.

Melikertes finally applied himself to teaching the arts of his native country to his new subjects, and built them a town and a fort. The grateful inhabitants raised in the former a temple to their benefactor, and placed therein his image, formed of silver. He went out, however, once to the chase, and never was heard of again; nor was his grave ever discovered, any more than that of Moses amongst the Jews.

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We ask pardon, like the Vicar of Wakefield, for interrupting so much learning, but we think we have heard all this before, though we have greatly condensed this long and wearisome tale, made up, it seems to us, of borrowed incidents from every quarter, and puerile imaginings that could mislead no rational mind. The frequent references to Moses, &c. appear designed to prevent or anticipate the reader's detection of atrocious and threadbare

plagiarisms and the whole contains no incident not to be met with elsewhere. The writer's invention, in truth, seems of the meanest calibre; and the weakness extreme, that could stoop to believe the tale of two Hercules and two first expeditions to the bounds of the Atlantic. But, setting all these follies aside, what shadow of probability is there that the Sidonians and Tyrians, or Phoenicians, could lay claim to magical spells at the pretended period? And still more the Spaniards of the western coast? Certainly none whatever; and every trace we have historically on the subject most satisfactorily contradicts it, and leads to an opposite inference. Were such errors English, might not Germany

scorn us?

We have room for but one extract more, and this the most tangible as the writer has treated it.

The Arrival of the Tyrians at the Island of Rachius.

"Their landing-place was a low shore covered with high trees. After a night of storm and danger, they found a good anchorage. The interior of the country contained many populous villages, whose inhabitants came to visit them, and led them to the chief or governor; he entertained them sumptuously for seven days, while a messenger was sent to the king to apprize him of their arrival. On the messenger's return, the governor conducted his guests to the king, who lived in the populous city of Rochapatta, in the interior of the island.

"They set out with a large force of spearmen in front, to do them honour and keep_off the numerous elephants, that greatly alarmed the travellers. The Tyrians marched next, then the villagers bearing presents; and the governor brought up the rear, mounted on an elephant and surrounded by his body-guard. On their journey they came to a river where were many crocodiles, that devoured some of the party.

"In three days they saw Rochapatta, surrounded by high mountains. As they approached it, they were met by a multitude of people, some on elephants, some on asses; many in litters and palankeens (!), but the majority on foot. They were presented in due form to King Rachius and offered their gifts; horses, purple cloths, and seats (Sitzen) of cedar. The king's presents in return consisted of pearls, gold, two thousand elephants' teeth, and much cinnamon. He entertained them thirty days-ten in the chase.

"This island is surrounded by the sea, but on the north-west faces other land. It is six days' journey in breadth, and twelve in length; fruitful, and well inhabited. The sea supplies stores of fish; the woods are full of animals; the cinnamon-tree plentiful; the elephants larger than elsewhere. Gold and precious stones are found in the rivers, pearls on the coast. It is governed by four kings, all tributaries however to one-the Great King-who receives cinnamon, elephants, pearls, and gold from them in tribute. The southern rules the land of elephants; the second king rules the west, or cinnamon country, where the Tyrians landed; the third, the north or pearl district; the fourth, the east, or jewel tract. They are all brothers of the great king.

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