yed the city to
Darius.--Vid. Justin's History.

[207] Spanish and Portuguese histories afford several instances of the
Moorish chiefs being attended in the field of battle by their
mistresses, and of the romantic gallantry and Amazonian courage of these
ladies.

[208] Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, who, after having signalized
her valour at the siege of Troy, was killed by Achilles.

[209] The Greek name of Troy.--_Ed._

[210] The Amazons.

[211] Thermodon, a river of Scythia in the country of the Amazons.

_Quales Threiciae cum flumina Thermodontis
Pulsant et pictis bellantur Amazones armis:
Seu circum Hippolyten, seu cum se Martia curru
Penthesilea refert: magnoque ululante tumultu
Foeminea exsultant lunatis agmina peltis._ VIRG. AEn. xi. 659.

[212] It may, perhaps, be agreeable to the reader, to see the
description of a bull-fight as given by Homer.

_As when a lion, rushing from his den,
Amidst the plain of some wide-water'd fen,_
(_Where num'rous oxen, as at ease they feed,
At large expatiate o'er the ranker mead_;)
_Leaps on the herds before the herdsman's eyes:
The trembling herdsman far to distance flies:
Some lordly bull_ (_the rest dispers'd and fled_)
_He singles out, arrests, and lays him dead.
Thus from the rage of Jove-like Hector flew
All Greece in heaps; but one he seiz'd, and slew
Mycenian Periphas.----_

POPE, II. xv.

[213] A shirt of mail, formed of small iron rings.

[214] Mohammed.

[215] There is a passage in Xenophon, upon which perhaps Camoens had his
eye. [Greek: Epei de elexen he mache, paren idein, ten men gen haimati
pephyrmenen], &c. "When the battle was over, one might behold through
the whole extent of the field the ground purpled with blood; the bodies
of friends and enemies stretched over each other, the shields pierced,
the spears broken, and the drawn swords, some scattered on the earth,
some plunged in the bosoms of the slain, and some yet grasped in the
hands of the dead soldiers."

[216] This memorable battle was fought in the plains of _Ourique_, in
1139. The engagement lasted six hours; the Moors were totally routed
with incredible slaughter. On the field of battle Alonzo was proclaimed
King of Portugal. The Portuguese writers have given many fabulous
accounts of this victory. Some affirm that the Moorish army amounted to
380,000, others, 480,000, and others swell it to 600,000, whe