The Median emp'ror dream'd his daughter
Had pist all Asia under water,[1]
And that a vine, sprung from her haunches,
O'erspread his empire with its branches;
And did not soothsayers expound it, 695
As after by th' event he found it?
When Cæsar in the senate fell,
Did not the sun eclips'd foretell;
And in resentment of his slaughter,
Look'd pale for almost a year after?[2] 700
Augustus having, b' oversight,
Put on his left shoe 'fore his right,[3]
Had like to have been slain that day,
By soldiers mutin'ing for pay.
Are there not myriads of this sort, 705
Which stories of all times report?
Is it not ominous in all countries,
When crows and ravens croak upon trees?[4]
The Roman senate, when within
The city walls an owl was seen,[5] 710
Did cause their clergy, with lustrations,
Our Synod calls Humiliations,
- ↑ Astyages, king of Media, had this dream of his daughter Mandane; and being alarmed at the interpretation which was given of it by the Magi, he married her to Cambyses, a Persian of mean quality. Her son was Cyrus, who fulfilled the dream by the conquest of Asia. See Herodotus, i. 107, and Justin.
- ↑ The prodigies, said to have preceded the death of Cæsar, are mentioned by several of the classics, Virgil, Ovid, Plutarch, &c. But the poet alludes to what is related by Pliny in his Natural History, ii. 30. See also Shakspeare for a full account of these prodigies, Jul. Cæs. Act i. sc. 3.
- ↑ Pliny tells this tale, in his Second Book. See also Suetonius, lib. ii. s. 29. The ascents to temples were always contrived so that the worshippers might set their right foot upon the uppermost step, as the ancients were superstitious in this respect. And we have an old English saying about putting the right foot foremost. (Handbook of Proverbs, p. 160.)
- ↑ Ravens, crows, magpies, and the like, have always been regarded as birds of ominous appearance. But the omens have been variously interpreted in different ages and countries. In England if they croak against the sun it is for fine weather, if in the water it is for rain. Bishop Hall says, "If you hear but a raven croak from the next roof, make your will."
- ↑ See Julius Obsequens, No. 44, 45, and Lycosthenes, p. 194, 195.
the fortunes of men from circumstances attending their births, by casting their nativities.
