[ .8 ] 



a white Jlonc—Q>iuv Je o; ©s^Tj^f rl^u^nv "Epcoja ^aiXKf\ot. t^ c^X^^t "*' 

 e-(p](ri'j uyoiXf^x TrxXauojalov apyog xSog, 



If then we may be allowed to fuppofe that in the dark and 

 rude ages of Greece thofe elegant and peculiarly adapted figures 

 of the Gods which have defcended even to our times were not 

 ufed or even known, there furely can be no abfurdity in fup- 

 pofing that fuch figures, which from the beauty and harmony 

 of their compofition I may almofl ftile poetical, were the inven- 

 tion of thefe great and ancient bards, thefe bright luminaries 

 by whom mankind was in all refpedls enlightened and influ- 

 enced, and who, if they be allowed to have firft diftinguiflied 

 the funElioiis of the Gods, may not improbably be fuppofed to 

 have invented thofe fymbols by which fuch appropriated func- 

 tions were indicated ; or, at the leaft, that their writings may 

 have afforded fuiEcient hints for the compofition and formation 

 of the fymbolical images which were afterward adopted. And 

 the probability of this laft fuppofition will be confiderably 

 increafed, when we refledl that many of thofe peculiar fymbols 

 and even features, by which the ftatues and pidlures of the 

 Gods are marked and adorned, are particularly mentioned and 

 defcribed by Homer — fuch as the thunderbolt and black brows 

 of Jupiter, the large eyes of Juno, the bow and lyre of Apollo, 

 the trident of Neptune, the oegis and blue eyes of Minerva, &c. 

 Neither can it by any means be accounted improbable that 

 ftatuaries and painters may have framed their images and 

 portraits upon the ideas of Homer, fince we are informed that, 

 in an age long after the exiftence of that infpiring bard, from 



his 



