86 TABLEAU ck la PLAINE de TROTE. 



As Achilles flew Hector before the Scaean Gate, fo it was 

 decreed that he himfelf ftiould one day fall before the fame 

 gate, (Iliad, XXII. 359. and 360.), Iv) 2KCiir,iri ■ziiX^^fi. This is ex- 

 prelTed by Quintus, III. 82. 2««i^s df^up) ■jrCxt^a-t. 



After Hector is killed, Achilles exprefles the idea, — wor- 

 thy of a warrior ; but which would have embarrafled tlie poet 

 in the execution, by giving the Iliad at once an inconvenient 

 termination, — the idea of hazarding immediately, while the pa- 

 nic of the Trojans was frefh, an affault upon the city ; v. 381. 

 EjS' clysT, a,(/L^\ ToXiy crvv nvyiei •KHgri&u^iv, Here, alio, it is not ne- 

 cefTary to fuppofe, that the troops were to advance towards die 

 wall round about on every fide. The expreffion' implies only 

 fomething indeterminate in regard to the place, provided other 

 circumftances do not more accurately mark it out. In QuiN- 

 Tus, (IV. 86. and 87.), Diomede fays, 



Let us ajfault the city it/elf, — On one fide, is underftood, — m 

 one place, where an affault is pradlicable. On the contrary, 

 when Achilles drags the body of Hector round the tomb of 

 Achilles, T^j; J'e^uiraf «&< er?;a.a, — (Iliad, XXIV. 16.), it feems 

 clear, from the nature of the thing, that, in this paffage, the ex- 

 preffion may fignify round about. 



Upon the whole, one mull here call to mind the remark, 

 which I have elfewhere introduced, — What other poets do by 

 art, in throwing into the fhade certain parts of their ftory, that 

 the effedl of the whole may be more forcible. Homer does 

 here, certainly not from theoretical notions, but by the guidance 

 of true feeling, and in the glow of imagination. The poet was 

 now arrived at the great, the decifive moment, -when his hero 

 pught to appear with the higheft luftre. The combat itfelf is rai- 

 fed to the marvellous ; even deities muft take a part in it, and 



contribute 



