in vain." Dryden's Virgil, v. 106. 291 Virgil, by making the boaster vanquished, has drawn a better moral from this episode than Homer. The following lines deserve comparison:-- "The haughty Dares in the lists appears: Walking he strides, his head erected bears: His nervous arms the weighty gauntlet wield, And loud applauses echo through the field. * * * * Such Dares was, and such he strode along, And drew the wonder of the gazing throng His brawny breast and ample chest he shows; His lifted arms around his head he throws, And deals in whistling air his empty blows. His match is sought, but, through the trembling band, No one dares answer to the proud demand. Presuming of his force, with sparkling eyes, Already he devours the promised prize. * * * * If none my matchless valour dares oppose, How long shall Dares wait his dastard foes?" Dryden's Virgil, v. 486, seq. 292 "The gauntlet-fight thus ended, from the shore His faithful friends unhappy Dares bore: His mouth and nostrils pour'd a purple flood, And pounded teeth came rushing with his blood." Dryden's Virgil, v. 623. 293 "Troilus is only once named in the Iliad; he was mentioned also in the Cypriad but his youth, beauty, and untimely end made him an object of great interest with the subsequent poets."--Grote, i, p. 399. 294 Milton has rivalled this passage describing the descent of Gabriel, "Paradise Lost," bk. v. 266, seq. "Down thither prone in flight He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing, Now on the polar w