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Homer, that perspective offers any appearances to which those 

 ""y" words can be naturally applied without violence to their 

 literal meaning. No part of our tour afforded more 

 entertainment than the classical sea prospects from this 

 coast and the neighbouring islands, where the eye is 

 naturally carried westward by the most beautiful ter- 

 minations imaginable, especially when they are illumi- 

 nated by the setting sun, which shews objects so dis- 

 tinctly in the clear atmosphere, that from the top of 

 Ida I could very plainly trace the outline of Athos on 

 the other side of the jEgean Sea, when the sun set be- 

 hind that mountain. This rich scenery principally en- 

 gaged the poet's attention ; and if we consider him as 

 a painter, we shall generally find his face turned this 

 way. In the infancy, and even before the birth of 

 astronomy, the distinct variety of this broken horizon 

 would naturally suggest the idea of a sort of ecliptic to 

 the inhabitants of the Asiatic coast and islands, mark- 

 ing the annual northern and southern progress of the 

 sun. Let us suppose the lonians looking south-west 

 from the heights of Chios at the winter solstice, they 

 would see the sun set behind Tenos and towards Syros, 

 tiie next island in the same south-west direction ; and 

 having observed, that when he advanced thus far he 

 turned back, they would fix the turnings (TM-) of 

 the snn to this point. I submit it as matter of conjec- 

 ture, whether this explanation does not offer a more na- 

 tural interpretation of the passage than any which has 

 yet been suggested. In pursuance of the same method 

 of illustrating Homer's writings, I shall draw some 

 conjectures with regard to the place of his birth, or at 

 least of his education, from his similes. Here we may 

 expect the most satisfactory evidence that an enquiry 

 of this obscure nature will admit. It is from these na- 

 tural and unguarded appeals of original genius, to the 

 obvious and familiar occurrences of common life, that 

 we may not only frequently, collect the customs, man- 

 ners, and arts of remote antiquity, but sometimes dis- 

 cover the condition, and, I think, in the following in- 

 stances, the country of the poet." After enumerating 

 several similes to support his theory, the essayist pro- 

 ceeds to the following : " When the formidable march 

 of Ajax is compared to a threatening storm coming from 

 the sea, I must observe as an illustration, not of the ob- 

 vious beauty of the simile, but of the poet's country, 

 that this can be no other than an Ionian, or at least an 

 Asiatic storm ; for it is raised by a west wind, which, 

 in those seas, can blow on that coast alone. When, 

 again, the irresistible rage of Hector is compared to the 

 violence of Zephyrus buffeting the waves, we are not 

 immediately reconciled to that wind's appearance in 

 that rough appearance so little known to western cli- 

 mates, and so unlike the playful Zephyrus of modern 

 poetry. But before we condemn Homer as negligent 

 of nature, we should see whether he is Hot uniform in 

 this representation, and whether this is not the true 

 Ionian character of Zephyrus. The very next simile 

 of the same book is as much to our purpose, where the 

 numbers, tumult, and eagerness of the Grecian army 

 collecting to engage, are compared to a growing storm 

 which begins at sea, and proceeds to vent its rage upon 

 the shore. The west wind is again employed in this 

 Ionian picture, and we shall be less surprised to see the 

 same allusion so often repeated, when we find, that of 

 all the appearances of nature, of a kind so generally 

 subject to variation, there is none so constant upon this 

 coast. For at Smyrna, the west wind blows into the 

 gulf for several hours, almost every day during the 

 summer season, generally beginning in a gentle breeze 



before twelve o'clock ; but freshening considerably to- 

 wards the heat of the day, and dying away in the even- 

 ing. During a stay of some months in this city, at 

 three different times, I had an opportunity of observing 

 the various degrees of this progress, from the first dark 

 curl on the surface of the water, to its greatest agita- 

 tion, which was sometimes violent. Though these ap- 

 pearances admit of variation, both as to the degree of 

 strength, and the precise time of their commencement, 

 yet they seldom entirely fail. This wind, upon which 

 the health and pleasure of the inhabitants so much de- 

 pend, is by them called inbat. The Frank merchants 

 have long galleries running from their houses, support- 

 ed by pillars, and terminating in a chiosque or open 

 summer-house, to catch this cooling breeze, which, 

 when moderate, adds greatly to the oriental luxury of 

 their coffee and pipe. We have seen how happily the 

 poet has made use of the growing violence of this 

 wind, when he paints the increasing tumult of troops 

 rushing to battle, but in a still, silent picture, the allu- 

 sion is confined to the first dubious symptoms of its 

 approach, which are perceived rather by the colour, 

 than by any sound or motion of the water; as in the 

 following instance. When Hector challenges the most 

 valiant of the Greeks to a single combat, both armies 

 are ordered to sit down to hear his proposal. The 

 plain thus extensively covered with shields, helmets, 

 and spears, is, in the moment of this solemn pause, 

 compared to the sea, when a rising western breeze has 

 spread a dark shade over its surface. When the reader 

 has compared the similes I have pointed out with the 

 original materials which I have also laid before him, I 

 shall submit to his consideration, as a matter of doubt- 

 ful conjecture, whether the poet, thoroughly familia- 

 rized to Ionian features, may not have inadvertently 

 introduced some of them in the following picture, to 

 which they do not so properly belong. When Eidothea, 

 the daughter of Proteus, informs Menelaus at Pharos, 

 of the time when her father is to emerge from the sea, 

 the circumstance of Zephyrus, introduced in a descrip- 

 tion of noon, darkening the surface of the water, is 

 so perfectly Ionian, and so merely accidental to the 

 coast of Egypt, that I cannot help suspecting the poet 

 to have brought this image from home." 



That the Iliad displays abundance of geographical 

 knowledge, is certainly no internal proof either for or 

 against its being the work of one individual ; but if we 

 suppose it to be the work of a single genius, upon the 

 grounds of that mind alone which had conceived so 

 lofty a plan, being able to accomplish its magnificent 

 execution, we shall find in the geography of its author 

 unquestionable proofs of his having been an extensive 

 traveller. Slrabo has left a commentary on the geo- 

 graphical parts of the Iliad and Odyssey ; and others, 

 such as Apollodorus and Menogenes, wrote on the same 

 subject, though unfortunately only the titles of their 

 works have reached posterity. Homer, in the midst of 

 all his splendid machinery, was regarded as so faithful 

 a painter of real existence, that his catalogue of the 

 Grecian forces was respected as a valuable record in 

 ancient Greece, and appealed to by its jurisprudence. In 

 some cities it was enacted by law, that the youth should 

 get the catalogue by heart. Solon, the lawgiver, appealed 

 to it in justification of the Athenian claim against the 

 pretensions of the Megareans, when the right to Salamis 

 was so warmly contested by Athens and Megara. And 

 the decision of that matter was at last referred to five 

 Spartan judges, who, on their part, admitted the na- 

 ture of the evidence, and the affair was accordingly de 



Homer. 



