Ossian Collection > Morison's edition of the Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

THE POEMS OF OSSlAN. Sir
Jlomcr's comparifon of Achilles to the Dog-Star is very
lubiime. " Priam beheld him rulhing along the plain, ftiin-
ing in his armour, like the ftar of autumn ; bright are ita
beams, diflinguiihed amidft the multitude of ftars in the
daik hour of flight. It rifes in its fplendor ; but its fplen-
dor is fatal ; betokening to miferable men, the deftroying
heat*." I'he ftrft appearance or Fingal, is in like man-
ner, compared by Offian, to a ftar or meteor. " Fingal,
tall in his ihip, ftretchcd his bright lance before him. Ter-
rible was the gleam of his fteel ; it was like the green mete-
or of death, fetting in the heath of Malmor, when the
traveller is alone, and the broad moon is darkened in hea-
ven." The hero's appearance in Homer, is more magnifi-
cent ; in Offian, moi-e terrible.
A tree cut down, or overthrown by a ftorm, is a (imili»
tude frequent among poets for deicribing the fall of a war-
rior in battle. Homer employs it often. But the moft
beautiful, by far, of his comparifons founded on this ob»
jed, indeed one of the moft beautiful in the whole Iliad, is
that on the death of Euphorbus, " He the young and ver-
dant olive, which a man hath reared with care in a lonely
field, vyheie the fprings of water bubble around it ; it ig
fair and flourifiiing ; it is fanned by the breath of all the
winds, and loaded with white blofibms ; when the fudden
blaft of a whirlwind defcending, roots it out from its bed,
and ftretches it on the duft +." To this, elegant as it is,
we may oppofe the following fimile of Oflian's, relating to
the death of the three fons of Ufnoth. " They fell, like
three young oaks which ftood alone on the hill. The tra-
veller faw the lovely trees, and wondered how they grew
fo lonely. The blaft of the defart came by night, and laid
their green heads low. Next day he returned ; but they
were
* Iliad xxii. 253. t HJad xvii, 53,