e.

{29} Dinocrates. The same story is told of him, with some little
alteration, by Vitruvius. Mention is made of it likewise by Pliny
and Strabo.

{35} "His buckler's mighty orb was next displayed;
Tremendous Gorgon frowned upon its field,
And circling terrors filled the expressive shield.
Within its concave hung a silver thong,
On which a mimic serpent creeps along,
His azure length in easy waves extends,
Till, in three heads, th' embroidered monster ends."
See Pope's "Homer's Iliad," book xi., 1. 43.
Lucian here means to ridicule, not Homer, but the historian's absurd
imitation of him.

{39} The Greek expression was proverbial. Horace has adopted it:
"Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus."

{40} Lucian adds, [Greek], ut est in proverbio, by which it appears
that barbers and their shops were as remarkable for gossiping and
tittle-tattle in ancient as they are in modern times. Aristophanes
mentions them in his "Plutus," they are recorded also by Plutarch,
and Theophrastus styles them [Greek].

{41} See Thucydides, book ii., cap. 34.

{42} Who fell upon his sword. See the "Ajax" of Sophocles.

{43} For a description of this famous statue, see Pausanias.

{44} The [Greek], or scarus, is mentioned by several ancient
authors, as a fish of the most delicate flavour, and is supposed to
be of the same nature with our chars in Cumberland, and some other
parts of this kingdom. I have ventured, therefore, to call it by
this name, till some modern Apicius can furnish me with a better.

{45} Dragons, or fiery serpents, were used by the Parthians, and
Suidas tells us, by the Scythians also, as standards, in the same
manner as the Romans made use of the eagle, and under every one of
these standards were a thousand men. See Lips. de Mil. Rom., cap.
4.

{46} See Arrian.

{47} The idea here so deservedly laughed at, of a history of what
was to come, if treated, not seriously, as this absurd writer
treated it, but ludicrously, as Lucian would probably have treated
it himself, might open a fine field for wit and humour. Something
of this kind appeared in a newspaper a few years ago, which, I
think, was called "News for a Hundred Years Hence;" and though but a
rough sketch, was well executed. A larger work, on the same ground,
and by a good hand, might afford much entertainment.

{49} This kind of scholastic jargon was much in vogue in the