chartam quamdam una manu tenens, altera vero quiddam quasi monstrans, Genius dicitur. Mandat autem ingredientibus, quid eis, ubi in vitam venerint, faciendum sit.” The Third Booke of the Faerie Queene; containing the Legend of Britomartis, or of Chastity. Britomartis, among the Cretans, was another name for Diana, the goddess of Chastity; and in this book, Spenser's Britomartis is represented as the patroness of Chastity. I think she is so called in Claudian. It is not improbable, as our author has copied the greatest part of the second Canto of this book from the Ceiris of Virgil, that he found, from the same poem, that Britomartis was a name for Diana, viz. Dyctinnam dixere tuo de nomine Lunam*. * Ver. 305. She was a Cretan nymph, and the daughter of Jupiter and Charme, whom Virgil has introduced in his Ceiris, as the nurse of Scylla, and from whom our author has copied his Glauce, Britomart's nurse, in the Canto mentioned above. She was called Dictynna, because she invented nets for hunting, which being also one of Diana's names, Britomartis and Diana were looked upon as the same. Callimachus speaks of her as one of the nymphs of Diana's train, but adds, that she was called by the Cydonians, Dictynna. He has left the history of Britomartis in his hymn to Diana. Εξοχα δ' αλλαων Γορτυνιδα φιλαο νυμφην Η δ' ότε μεν λασιησιν ὑπο δρυσι κρυπτεία νύμφη, Αλλοτε δ' ειαμενησιν. Ο δ' εννεα μηνας εφοίτα Παιπαλα τε, κρημνεστε και ουκ ανεπαυσε διωκίυν, Αικίυα, τα σφ' εταωσεν. Οθεν μετεπειτα Κύδωνες Νυμφαν μεν ΔΙΚΤΥΝΑΝ· ορ δ' όθεν ηλαίο νύμφη Ιερα δε εζεσι * Præcipue autem inter alias omnes Gortynida amasti Nympham, Cervarum Venatricem, Britomartin, Jaculatricem cujus olim Minos Amore perculsus, pervagatus est montes Creta. Illa vero alias quidem hirtis sub quereubus latitabai Nympha, Alias autem in locis uliginosis. At ipse novem menses percurrebat Loca prærupta, et pendentes scopulos: ncc intermisit insectationem, Donec apprehensa ferme Nympha insiliit in mare Ab alto vertice; insiliit autem in piscatorum Retia, quæ ipsam conservarunt: hinc deinceps Cydones Nympham ipsam, Dictynnam; montem verò, unde desiliit Nympha, Dictœum appellitant: excitatisque ibi sacris Sacra etiam faciunt. Upon the word Biloμaglis, says the scholiast, ΒΡΙΤΟΜΑΡΤΙΣ ονομα το κυριον της νυμφης· αφ' ἧς καὶ ἡ * Tur εis Agl. v. 189. We read nearly the same account of this nymph in the ΜΕΤΑΜΟΡΦΩΣΕΙΣ of Antoninus Liberalis, Fab. 40. p. 50. Basil. 1568. ΑΡΤΕΜΙΣ εν Κρήτη ΒΡΙΤΟΜΑΡΤΙΣ τιμαῖαι, ὡς Διογε vay And Solinus speaks to the same effect." Cretes Dianam religiosissime, venerantur, Biloμagliv gentiliter nominantes; quod sermone nostro sonat virginem dulcem*." But although Spenser in Britomartis had some reference to Diana, yet at the same time he intended to denote by that name the martial Britonesse. The reader is desired to take notice, that the passage which Spenser has copied from the Ceiris of Virgil, begins at this verse of that poem Quam simul Ogygii Phænicis filia Charme,† And ends at Despue ter, virgo: numero deus impare gaudet ‡ *Polyhist. c. 17. + Ver. 223. ↑ Ver. 373. B. ii. c. ix. s. xxii. He is describing the Castle of Alma.. The frame thereof seemed partly circulare, The philosophy of this abstruse stanza, is explained in a learned epistle of Sir Kenelm Digby*, addressed to Sir Edward Stradling. It is partly formed on the system of Plato, who was a great favourite of those writers, whom Spenser chiefly studied and copied, the Italian poets, particularly Petrarch. The sixth canto of the third book, especially the second, and the thirty-second stanza, explained above, together with his Hymnes of Heavenly Love and Heavenly Beauty, are evident proofs of our author's attachment to the Platonic school. * First printed in a single pamphlet, viz. Observations on xxii. stanza, &c. Lond. 1644. 8vo. It is also published in Scrinia Sacra, 4to. pag. 244. London, 1654. |