' ■ Ancient Epi^Poem;'^^ ^al 



wnion; ' iiYCukiatei no irhdralof union; the]^«ife 

 p^rtizans in t'He private ahd public quarrels I ^f 

 the Greeks; ethey are* iritendiaricB,; not-iiapt 

 peasers; and' this not as a mode of iwllicfii^vA 

 divine punishment on crime, which, it Homi^t 

 had so exhibited flicm, wouW,^ indeed^' ' haVe 

 presented a dignified moral and given a decent 

 credibility to the reveries of his too passionate 

 admirers ; but without the intimation of their 

 acting from one moral motive, of their being 

 the ministers, or even the instruments of justice, 

 they range themselves on the part of the Greeks 

 or -Trojans^ oy enlist under the leaders of the 

 factions ; 'inflame their animosities arid -aid 

 their vengeance; and it is severe suffering, not 

 any thing in the character and conduct of the 

 gods, that teaches at all to the Greeks, or to the 

 Trojans, one moral lesson. In fine, there is no 

 adaptation in any view, and as the creation of 

 the poet, of the celestial machinery to any 

 one moral whatever, and least of all to the 

 moral of union. The supernatural agents of 

 the; Iliad were assuredly neither in whole, nor 

 in.p^rt, the creation of Ilonier ; as he topk his 

 men, he- took his gods, just as he found them 

 in the page of history, or from the mouth of 

 tradition; he docs not appear to add t(\ -' 

 detract from their historic character as Lc i 

 ceived it, nor is there any thing in the most 



