56 ? R Y not taken 



THE Greeks, by HOMER'S account, were always greatly fupe- 

 rior in numbers to the Trojans and their auxiliaries ; and, for 

 more than nine years, they had ACHILLES with them *, whom 

 HOMER has, on all occafions, reprefented as perfectly irrefidi- 

 ble to the Trojans. How then came it about that the war laded 

 fo long ? 



THE only anfwer that can be made to this is, that the Trojans 

 kept within their walls as long as ACHILLES appeared; and this 

 HOMER himfelf fuggefts f, though it is contradictory to feveral 

 other pafTages, where it is faid, that many battles had been 

 fought, and great numbers flain on both fides. 



BUT this will not prove fatisfactory, when it is confidered, 

 that ANDROMACHE, in the interview me has with HECTOR in 

 the fixth book, tells him, that the city was to be come at, and 

 the wall eafily fcaled ^; and that Aj AX, AGAMEMNON, MENE- 

 LAUS, and DIOMED, had three times attempted it. If fo, what 

 hindered ACHILLES to florm the town the day after he landed ? 

 How came AJAX, and the other chiefs, to be fo long in threat- 

 ening an afTault ? Madame DACIER, in a note on this paf- 

 fage, fays, That the art of reconnoitering was not known, at 

 this time, even to the Greeks. The abfurdity of the anfwer 

 fhews the force of the obfervation. A wolf, fox, or other 

 bead of prey, that wants to get into a fold or clofe where fheep 

 or cattle are confined, would walk round it to difcover at what 

 place the fence was lowed. 



BUT further, fuppofing the town to have been impregnable, 

 how came the Greeks not to take it by blockade ? They had a 

 powerful fleet, the Trojans none ; fo that it was eafy to hinder 

 the town from being fupplied-with proviiions by fea ; and it 

 was equally eafy to have drawn lines around it, which would 

 have cut off all communication between it and the country; 

 the infallible confequence of which would have been, that the 

 Trojans mud have furrendered as foon as their dock of provi- 



fions' 



* II. viii. 558. | II. vii. 352.5 xviii. 287. t II. vi". 434. 



