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Home  »  The Odysseys of Homer, vol. 1  »  chapman148

chapman148

…, viz. vallum or claustrum dentium, which, for the better sound in our language, is here turned, Pale of Ivory. The teeth being that rampire or pale, given us by nature in that part for restraint and compression of our speech, till the imagination, appetite, and soul (that ought to rule in their examination, before their delivery) have given worthy pass to them. The most grave and divine poet teaching therein, that not so much for the necessary chewing of our sustenance our teeth are given us, as for their stay of our words, lest we utter them rashly.–CHAPMAN.