heir pretended
enchantments were only a poetical mode of describing the effect of
their beauty, which drew many suitors after them, who lost
themselves in the dissipation of a voluptuous life. Indeed, Strabo
says, and very judiciously, as it would seem, that Homer having
heard persons mention the expedition of Jason to Colchis, and
hearing the stories of Medea and Circe, he took occasion to say,
from the resemblance of their characters, that they were sisters.

According to some authors, Scylla was the daughter of Phorcys and
Hecate; but as other writers say, of Typhon. Homer describes her in
the following terms:-- 'She had a voice like that of a young whelp;
no man, not even a God, could behold her without horror. She had
twelve feet, six long necks, and at the end of each a monstrous
head, whose mouth was provided with a triple row of teeth.' Another
ancient writer says, that these heads were those of an insect,
a dog, a lion, a whale, a Gorgon, and a human being. Virgil has in a
great measure followed the description given by Homer. Between
Messina and Reggio there is a narrow strait, where high crags
project into the sea on each side. The part on the Sicilian side was
called Charybdis, and that on the Italian shore was named Scylla.
This spot has ever been famous for its dangerous whirlpools, and the
extreme difficulty of its navigation. Several rapid currents meeting
there, and the tide running through the strait with great
impetuosity, the sea sends forth a dismal noise, not unlike that of
the howling or barking of dogs, as Virgil has expressed it, in the
words, 'Multis circum latrantibus undis.'

Palaephatus and Fusebius, not satisfied with the story being based on
such simple facts, assert that Scylla was a ship that belonged to
certain Etrurian pirates, who used to infest the coasts of Sicily,
and that it had the figure of a woman carved on its head, whose
lower parts were surrounded with dogs. According to these writers,
Ulysses escaped them; and then, using the privileges of a traveller,
told the story to the credulous Phaeacians in the marvellous terms in
which Homer has related it. Bochart, however, says that the two
names were derived from the Phoenician language, in which 'Scol,' the
root of Scylla, signified 'a ruin,' and Charybdis, 'a gulf.'

FABLE II. [XIV.75-100]

Dido entertains AEneas in her palace, and falls in love with