86 TABLEAU de la PLAINE de TROTE. 



As Achilles flew Hector before the Scaean Gate, fo it was 

 decreed that he himfelf fliould one day fall before the fame 

 gate, (Iliad, XXII. 359. and 360.), iv) ^Kccirjiri i:x)\r^<Ti. This is ex- 

 prefTed by Quintus, III. 82. iKui^g a^sp) ^ryX^jo-;. 



After Hector is killed, Achilles exprejQTes the idea, — wor- 

 thy of a warrior; but which would have embarraffed the poet 

 in the execution, by giving the Iliad at once an inconvenient 

 termination, — the idea of hazarding immediately, while the pa- 

 nic of the Trojans was frefh, an affault upon the city ; v. 381. 

 E<^' ayzTt dfjupi tcoXiv <rvv nvyzcn itn^n^u^fjiv. Here, alfo, it is not ne- 

 cefTary to fuppofe, that the troops were to advance towards the 

 wall round about on every fide. The expreffion' implies only 

 fomething indeterminate in regard to the place, provided other 

 circum fiances do not more accurately mark it out. In Quin- 

 tus, (IV. 86. and 87.), Diomede fays, 



'AXX' aye, trvv rsv^effi ^ a^^oLoriv^ rih\ fi tx'!roig 



Let us ajfault the city itfelf, — On one fide, is underflood, — ia 

 one place, where an affault is pradlicable. On the contrary, 

 when Achilles drags the body of Hector round the tomb of 

 Achilles, T^)f J'g^uo-aj -sfei <r^/*a, — (Iliad, XXFV. 16.), it feems 

 clear, from the nature of the thing, that, in this paffage, the ex- 

 prefFion may fignify round about» 



Upon the whole, one mufl here call to mind the remark, 

 which I have elfewhere introduced, — What other poets do by 

 art, in throwing into the fhade certain parts of their ftory, that 

 the effed: of the whole may be more forcible. Homer does 

 here, certainly not from theoretical notions, but by the guidance 

 of true feeling, and in the glow of imagination. The poet was 

 now arrived at the great, the decifive moment, when his hero 

 ought to appear with the highefl; luftre. The combat itfelf is rai- 

 fed to the marvellous ; even deities muft take a part in it, and 



contribute 



