GLEANINGS FROM THE NATURAL 

 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENTS 



CHAPTER I. 



A HOMERIC BESTIARY. 



JN fpite of the attention which has of 

 late years been devoted to Homer, 

 very little care has been expended on 

 the plants and creatures which he 

 introduces in his two immortal poems, and yet 

 the fubjecl: is replete with intereft. From the 

 manner in which he notices the moft ftriking 

 features of the flora of Greece, or the remarks 

 which he makes on animated nature, fomething of 

 the man's perfonality and taftes might, it is only 

 reafonable to fuppofe, be inferred. The attempt 

 to recover fpecial traits of the poet by this method, 

 however, fails, and we are reduced, did we only 

 judge by this line of argument, to fall back upon 

 the view of thofe critics who hold that the " Iliad " 

 and " Odyfley " were fimply a floating collection of 



