Dropp'd from the zenith like a falling star
On Lemnos, th' Aegean isle thus they relate."

"Paradise Lost," i. 738

75 It is ingeniously observed by Grote, vol i p. 463, that "The gods
formed a sort of political community of their own which had its
hierarchy, its distribution of ranks and duties, its contentions for
power and occasional revolutions, its public meetings in the agora
of Olympus, and its multitudinous banquets or festivals."

76 Plato, Rep. iii. p. 437, was so scandalized at this deception of
Jupiter's, and at his other attacks on the character of the gods,
that he would fain sentence him to an honourable banishment. (See
Minucius Felix, Section 22.) Coleridge, Introd. p. 154, well
observes, that the supreme father of gods and men had a full right
to employ a lying spirit to work out his ultimate will. Compare
"Paradise Lost," v. 646:

"And roseate dews disposed
All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest."

77 --_Dream_ ought to be spelt with a capital letter, being, I think,
evidently personified as the god of dreams. See Anthon and others.

"When, by Minerva sent, a _fraudful_ Dream
Rush'd from the skies, the bane of her and Troy."

Dyce's "Select Translations from Quintus Calaber," p.10.

78 "Sleep'st thou, companion dear, what sleep can close
Thy eye-lids?"

--"Paradise Lost," v. 673.

79 This truly military sentiment has been echoed by the approving voice
of many a general and statesman of antiquity. See Pliny's Panegyric
on Trajan. Silius neatly translates it,

"Turpe duci totam somno consumere noctem."

80 --_The same in habit, &c._

"To whom once more the winged god appears;
His former youthful mien and shape he wears."

Dryden's Virgil, iv. 803.

81 "As bees in spring-time, when
The sun with Taurus rides,
Pour forth their populous youth about the hive
In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers
Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,
The suburb of this straw-built citadel,
New-nibb'd with balm, expatiate and confer
Their state affairs. So thick the very crowd