each man being in a manner singled out to the
proof of it.

22. In the earlier ages of the world, the sceptre of a king was
nothing more than his walking-staff, and thence had the name of
sceptre. Ovid, in speaking of Jupiter, describes him as resting on
his sceptre.--SPENCE.

From the description here given, it would appear to have been a
young tree cut from the root and stripped of its branches. It was
the custom of Kings to swear by their sceptres.

23. For an account of the contest between the Centaurs and Lapiths
here referred to, see Grecian and Roman Mythology.

24. In _antiquity_, a sacrifice of a hundred oxen, or beasts of the
same kind; hence sometimes _indefinitely_, any sacrifice of a large
number of victims.

25. [The original is here abrupt, and expresses the precipitancy of
the speaker by a most beautiful aposiopesis.--TR.]

26. The Iliad, in its connection, is, we all know, a glorification of
Achilles by Zeus; for the Trojans only prevail because Zeus wishes
to show that the reposing hero who sits in solitude, can alone
conquer them. But to leave him this glorification entirely unmixed
with sorrow, the Grecian sense of moderation forbids. The deepest
anguish must mingle with his consciousness of fame, and punish his
insolence. That glorification is the will of Zeus; and in the
spirit of the ancient mythus, a motive for it is assigned in a
divine legend. The sea-goddess Thetis, who was, according to the
Phthiotic mythus, wedded to the mortal Peleus, saved Zeus, by
calling up the giant Briareus or AEgaeon to his rescue. Why it was
AEgaeon, is explained by the fact that this was a great sea-demon,
who formed the subject of fables at Poseidonian Corinth, where even
the sea-god himself was called AEgaeon; who, moreover, was worshipped
at several places in Euboea, the seat of Poseidon AEgaeus; and whom
the Theogony calls the son-in-law of Poseidon, and most of the
genealogists, especially Eumelus in the Titanomachy, brought into
relation with the sea. There is therefore good reason to be found
in ancient belief, why Thetis called up AEgaeon of all others to
Jove's assistance. The whole of the story, however, is not
detailed--it is not much more than indicated--and therefore it
would be difficult even now to interpret it in a perfectly
satisfactory manner. It bears the same relation to the Iliad, that