Note 23 — ACHILLES TATIUS, (continued 2)

This description is very obscure in the original; the meaning seems to be, that the descent to the cavern was effected by lifting up an oblong stone, bearing the appearance of a threshold, but serving as a door. The following is the version of the Italian translator: "L'entrata era stretta e oscura, sottoposta all' entrata d'uno occulto edificio, in guisa che la soglia della prima entrata faceva un' altra porta ad uso di scendere," &c. The poet, Walter Lisle, gives the passage thus:—

"A cave there was, it opened well and shut With narrow door of stone, that threshold was T'an upper room. Within, a maze it has Of sundrie wayes, entangled (like the roots Of thicke-set trees, amids and all abouts), That meet in plaine."

And wishing to embellish the picture, he adds—

"With scales of crocodile The roofe is pav'd, brought hither from the Nile."