440 HISTORY OF 



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nity, is seldom called into exertion. Among the 

 ancients it was a quality of much greater use than 

 at present ; as in war the same man that had 

 strength sufficient to carry the heaviest armour, 

 had strength sufficient also to strike the most fatal 

 blow. In this case, his strength was at once 

 his protection and his power. We ought not to 

 be surprised, therefore, when we hear of one man 

 terrible to an army, and irresistible in his career, 

 as we find some generals represented in ancient 

 history. But we may be very certain that this 

 prowess was exaggerated by flattery, and exalted 

 by terror. An age of ignorance is ever an age 

 of wonder. At such times, mankind, having no 

 just ideas of the human powers, are willing ra- 

 ther to represent what they wish than what they 

 know ; and exalt human strength to fill up the 

 whole sphere of their limited conceptions. Great 

 strength is an accidental thing ; two or three in a 

 country may possess it, and these may have a 

 claim to heroism. But what may lead us to 

 doubt of the veracity of these accounts is, that 

 the heroes of antiquity are represented as the 

 sons of heroes ; their amazing strength is deliver- 

 ed down from father to son ; and this we know 

 to be contrary to the course of nature. Strength 

 is not hereditary, although titles are : and I am 

 very much induced to believe, that this great 

 tribe of heroes, who are all represented as the 

 descendants of heroes, are more obliged to their 

 titles than to their strength for their characters. 

 With regard to the shining characters in Homer, 

 they are all represented as princes, and as the 



