HOME R. 



103 



but of travellers, who have earned the reader's imagi- 

 nation to the tcene of hi* action. Among the** may 

 be noticed Tournefert, the French naturalist, who un- 

 dentood the daeeical as well a* hi* fcvosj 

 Richard Pococke also carried hi* 



to the public 

 Lady Mary Mon- 

 tague visited the Troad. though somewhat hastily, and 

 saw, or imagined that she saw, the tomb of Achilles. 



to Greece, though with leas 

 curiosity than into other quarters. 



imagined 

 Doctor Chandler 



-'*'>, and 



Ask 



je 



te and Greece in 

 that hare not re- 

 ceived much credit. In conjecturing the exact ek nation 

 of Troy, and of the scene of Homer's travel*, modem 

 travellers have not been more *uccasrkl than the an- 

 cient*. Wood, who, on many points, make* ingenious 

 and ptubabte conjecture*, i* far from baring settled the 

 controversy of the Troad ; and Chevalier and (Jell, who 

 ucceeded him in the same attempt, hare been lee* 

 learned and much more gratuitous hi their supposition*. 

 To the real admirer of Homer the controversy will 

 probably appear of IOM importance tnan it has wen 

 made. For the difficulty of finding, at the end of 3OOO 

 years, the tite of a town , of which an ancient poet eayv, 

 that, in hi* own time, the vrry nhna bad disappeared, 

 f cfemNt tiff if ft ratjjur,) there M toreiy an apparent anu 



* ^ ~a_ . _ i _ :_a- _% 



fwsewCient Taaaon in tne cnaajgea anal ravagae wntcn yii 

 centofiov can produce. By aucn a dawncuity , no ooer 



mind W0ald Omftaiflmmf BmmmmBf ammamflmt tlO ttDjOOt tfca* Wlki 



idea, that BO *oeh war a* the Trojan ever existed ; sU 



-' ndarthelliada 

 iHreaih/i*. 



11 - _ I | 



M<nnrr MB - 

 place M i 



, - ,, 



OVT Oa 



critical JMaWVMllCV taBt nava Oaan paaara apon TmWty 



_ I | 1; | , I I _.. I JjiaujLai , ,., I, , K . - 



MB - u winrr u urine*. lovmO*? avijfn*i non aajvaH 



, , ,,hi- 



rlomcT* 



Pyt hajyoTmat haa coooRMMn hran to T*rtr\t*, for koviiig 

 imparted (aUe notions opf the Divinity, and Ptato b*. 



til , _ _ t-j^i _, t^M- V^ .< -!--> a>K_ 



DwIDVQ HuD TTwRI HV fuCBJ TTIK1P1JC. t nBIKaVM HIV 



of the 



fitir i|MTi ( on of 



it is easy to perceive the 



reasoni in his uautises for .. 



to be put in 

 umetsm na- 

 idea, and the he- 

 copy of that idea, 

 i God, or theDi- 

 Jl the forma 

 to hie own 



"!i v rt*it*ri ut 



fornogoad 



If then, say* Plato, (speaking of hi* own ideal republic. 

 which can hardly be called even the copy of a copy, ) 



almost arrests his tongue from condemning him, and that Htwnrr. 

 be considers him as the maker of all poets who have '"V 

 succeeded him, particularly those of the drama. After 

 this pology, he demonstrate* at great length that the 

 god* of the Iliad are calculated to give us unworthy 

 notion* of divinity, a fact which, p/uiotoakicaUy con- 

 sidered, it is not very difficult to prove. To exculpate 

 Homer from this heavy charge, both hi* ancient and 

 modem admirers have recourse to allegory ; and in this 

 system of explaining the Iliad, have mixed a vast deal 

 of absurdity with a very small portion of truth. It i* 

 true that there was allegory and emblem both in an- 

 cient religion and philosophy ; and some of the fictions 

 of Homer carry their allegorical meaning in their ap- 

 pearance. But to see nothing in the whole Iliad but 

 moral abstraction* personified, i* an idea a* intolerable 

 to common *ense a* to poetical feeling. Such a forced 

 explanation of the Iliad would after all leave the poem 

 Mite as immoral a* it i* in it* plain interpretation. 

 Suppose we take Jupiter for the power of God, Destiny 

 for hi* will, Juno for his justice, Venus for his mercy, 

 and Minerva for hi* wisdom, we shall still find the 

 theology of Homer a* defective as if we take thing* ae 

 they are in the Iliad, that in, if we understand hi* dei- 

 ties to be influenced by the passions of men. Homer 

 painted the god* just aa the vulgar belief represented 

 them. It was jmpnsaiblf tor him to have done other- 

 wise, for he could not create a new religion ; but it' 

 we could *uppo*e it possible for him to have surpassed 

 the limits of human intelligence, and to have ant, 

 paled the higher notion* of Plato respecting the di- 

 , it would not have been hi* interest a* a poet to 

 emsrd rov mythology into the pure theism of the 



sjsawr the inhabitant* of Olympu* a* impassioned be* 

 ing*, there wa* an end to all our interest in their ac- 

 tion*. I ) n it* true attributes, i* not a subject 



The touch stone of more recent refinement in senti. 

 merit and manner* ha* been applied with the wune ab- 

 surdity to hie heroes, a* the standard of pure theology 



h !---TI to hi. dninitu-i. 



scribed, the power of 



of hi* estimation 



_ _kl^k k I .1 



nrr ;n wrmfi nr ^*r i.i.t - 



force. Plata, it should he 



tw only two 



ing which is the 



By the original idea he 



noe thoafK and by the other 



woicfi Uod CTVflt0Q CBCiManBavMy 



tions. AH ohjerta being then 



saaai^B> ii st aJ *aV._ - ^ sWuisk 



rr , ,-, ', . r! w i *, 



copicv ov oopif , wntco can 



emld give and take the 

 bit man or i 



r. I .t 



arvam1_HmTflu*II II 



with others; and 







we shook! te*t*y 



person, who deserves to be admired an 

 we should tell him that our political 

 admit of each persona among us, and we shn'old tend 

 him to another city after having sprinkled him with 

 ptrfuino)* and crowned tnt head witn tower*. It mn*t 

 be owned, that even the vanity of a port could hardly 

 be ofended with such _ sMtoM. U mm Plato comes 



Terence for hi* gcniu*. He own* that the respect and 



hu infancy for his writing* 



love which be bMfidt 



In the time* which hede- 

 man's body constituted the 

 in society. He who 

 of armour, and who 

 blows, was a form i da- 

 rns rank in exact < 

 it i* so ?nff in 

 ir a warrior of acknowledged 

 r b superior to him. At 

 the equality of arms and the principle of ho. 

 would mate a man ashamed of such a eomVaaioa. 

 But in Homer, jtnea* *ayt without shame to Achilles, 

 I know that thon art more valiant than me," which is, 

 in other wonk " I know that thou art stronger." /Eneas 

 add*. - Imi. fesjeerr, if tome god prate** *, /*# Ac 

 And this ie a general principle, 

 extent may be said to constitute all 

 of the Iliad, namely, that power, success, 

 . all come from the god*. When Aga- 

 memnoB excuse* hie outrage pan Achilles, he tar* 

 that some god had disturbed hi* reaaon. It i* the pro- 

 faction of this or that divinity that give* the Greek and 

 Trojan heroes each a triumph in his turn ; it is the 

 god* who spread immuinlimi among the armies, or 

 inspire them lor the combat ; but we must not regard 

 this intervention of the deities a* diminishing the glory 

 of the tocceMive warriors. We tee clearly that Homer 



Me In 

 which to a 

 the 



