The early poems of Walter Savage Landor: a study of his development and debt to Milton online

of Asia Minor in order to grasp the full meaning.

36. . . . Pactohis tore

His yellow hair with human blood defiled.



40 POEMS OF WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR

This river, a tributary of the Hermus, on which Phocsea
stands, is described as gold-bearing (Herod., V. loi). The
tendency to exaggeration in these Hnes, the personifica-
tion of rivers and places, and the use of the word ' swains,'
seem to me characteristic of Landor's earliest period.

Verses 39-69. — Phocaea alone refuses to accept the yoke
of Persia. The bolder of her citizens set sail, and, piloted
by Nearchus, arrive at Tartessus in distant Iberia. The
incidents of their departure are not related here, being
reserved for the Narrative of Protis, which forms the
second fragment. Landor at this point departs somewhat
from the history of Herodotus, who says (I. 162) :
' TTpcoTT) Se ^oiKairj '1copl7]