48 THE REALITY OF THE TROJAN WAR. May iS* 



Homer's own ? But the ftory contradi6ls itfelf, of a 

 fa]fe Helen inipofed upon Paris, to colour the E- 

 gyptian fancy of her never being in Troy. It is bor- 

 rowed from the table of li:ion, and forces them into 

 greater improbabilities than thofe of which they accuCe 

 others. 



In Sir Ifaac Newton's chronology, the Argonautic 

 expedition is held to have bt-en about 22 years previous 

 to the Trojan war. We cannot fuppole Helen was' al- 

 moft any thing more than a child, when run away with 

 by Thefeus, and brought back by her brothers Caftor 

 and Pollux, two of thsj Argonauts ; — but allow fiie was 

 12, or 13 ; that fhe was 15, when married to Mene- 

 laus ; fuppofe Ihe ftaid two or three years, and had a 

 daughter to him, before flie was carried off by Paris, 

 we may fuppofe her then 17 ; and when admired by 

 the Troja,n fenators, 20 years after, only 37 ; and ob- 

 iierve the intrtiilic evidence this carries of the truth : — « 

 The air, manner, and difcourfe of a lady at that age, 

 was more apt to ftrike men ut their age, than the bloom- 

 ing complexion of a timid, fijent girl. 



V\^hat credit is t#) be given to Dion Chryfoftome, who 

 lived fo late as Trajan ? Homer, who lived in the next 

 generation, lliould rather be believed than one who 

 lived 1200 years after, and who, like Herodotus, had 

 his account alfo from an Egyptian priell. If, as is pro- 

 bable, Homer had travelled into P^gypt, could not he be 

 'better informed, even from that fource, at the period he 

 lived, than they at periods fo dillant ? Bat how came 

 thefe prielts to know better than Homer or any perfon 

 in Greece ? 



Paris's defign upon a woman he had never feen, can 

 be better accounted for than by the ftory of the judge- 

 ment of Paris. — An aunt of Ins had been carried ofl" by 

 the Greeks, befides punilliing them otherwife, for 

 breach of treaty : The Trojans, with the other Afia- 

 tics, ag4eed to revenge the aftVont : Paris readily en- 

 gaged to conduft the matter, and with 3 fufficieiit force 



