4807.] The Odyffey; and fmaller Poems of Homer.—No. V’. 
the Ilias Minor, have alfo been attributed 
to the great lather of Poetry, though Arif- 
totle has exprefsly denied the laft to be his. 
It contains the ttory of Sinon, which Vir- 
gil has adopted in the fecond book of the 
/Eneid. There are many other poems, 
iome Judicrous, others ferious, afcribed 
to Homer; butit feems at length adinit- 
ted that the only inconteftable works of 
his, are the Iliad and the Odyfiey. 
We thail clofe this account of Homer and 
his works, by a rapid review of the man- 
ner in which they were firlt colleéted, and 
of the different editions, ancient and mo- 
dern, through which they have fucceffiy~- 
Jy pafted. It has been generally fuppofed 
that Lycurgus, the great legiflator of La~ 
cedemon, was the “firft who introduced 
thefe poems into Greece. It is pretended 
by Plutareh,* that he had the firft Sght of 
Lother’s poems while travelling in Afia, 
and that he obtained them from the de- 
{cendants of Creophilus, a fuppofed co- 
temporary and companion of Homer. 
Lycurgus, in the view he entertained of 
giviny a new fy(tem of laws to his country- 
men, * might probably fuppofe that poetry 
would have great effect in influencing and 
elvilizing their minds; and this idea had 
alreacly “engaged him to patronize the 
fongs of Thales the Cretan, which in- 
fpired obedience and concord. “As the 
_ conftitution he meditated was to be en- 
tirely of a martial nature, the poems of 
Homer might be of confiderable ufe to 
hin :—they encouraged his defign, the 
_moral they inculcated was unity, the 
air they breathed. was military, and 
their ftory had this particular recommen- 
dation to the Spartans, that they fhewed. 
Greece in arms, and Afia fubdued, under 
the banners and conduct of one of their 
own monarchs, who commanded all the 
Grecian Kings. For three centuries at= 
ter the time of Lycurgus, we collect no- 
thing concerning them. Athens at length 
claimed the honour of refcuing the fa- 
ther of letters from the injuries of time, 
and of reftoring [lomer to hunfelf. In 
the days of Solon his works were divided 
into two diftiné poems, and received 
the arrangement in which we now behold 
them, . This divilion of the two poems 
into ome, and of eacn into books, bas 
been attributed by Plato + to Hipparchus, 
the fon of Pififtrates, thongh Cicero { 
gives the honour entirely to Pilifirates 
hunfelf; and this is confirmed by § Pau- 
* Plut. Lycurg. ‘t Plato in Hipparchog 
e MesIG ade Oral). 4G 
§ Vide Pauf. 7; 25, p. 594, 
Apion. 1. 2. /Elian. V. H. xiit. 
~ Monrury Mac. No. 156. 
Jofeph ' C, 
Id, 
349 
fanias, Jofephus, /Elian, and Suidas. 
From this period, we are enabled to 
{peak of them with huittorical certainty, 
without having recourle to conjectures: 
The works of this great poet now be- 
came the care of kings. Alexander* af 
fitted at a {trict review of them by Anaxs 
archus and Callifthenes, either becaufe, 
he probably contidered them as a treafure 
of military knowledge; or, as has been 
conjectured, he promoted ‘the propaga 
tion of them, as a book, which, treating 
of the fons of the gods, might make the 
intercourfe between them and mortals 
become a familiar notion, at a time when 
he himfelf was ambitious of being thought 
the fon of Jupiter. 
Egypt under the Ptolemres was the 
country which afterwards held the works 
of Homer in the greateit elteem. hefe 
kings were defcended from Greece, and 
retained a pailionate veneration for their 
original country. Its cuftoms and language 
prevailed in their court. They encouraged 
letters and erected the greateit library in 
the world. A number of learned men were 
appointed to revife the writings of Homer. 
The firft of thefe was Zenodotus, librarian 
to the firft Ptolemy ; and, asa poet and 
grammarian, well qualified for the under- 
taking. But, according to Suidas, Arif- 
tarchus, the preceptor of Ptolomy Eu- 
ergetes, not being fatistied with this copy, 
nor with» that of his difciple Aritio- 
phanes, determined to beginanother. He 
rettored fome verfes to their former read- 
ing, rejected others, which he marked with 
obeliiks as fpurious, and proceeded with 
fuch induftricus accuracy, that, notwith- 
ftanding there were fome who wrote 
againit ‘hin, potterity has generally ac- 
quiefeed i iD ‘itt So highly efleemed was 
this copy, that the name of Ariftarchus 
was applied to every candid and judi- 
cious critic— 
Arguet ambigué didum—mutanda notabit—« 
Fiet Ariflarchus— 
while that of Zoilus, who about the 
fame time wrote many envious and ill- 
natured criticifins on Homer, has been 
coifigned to infamy and contempt. It 
vas not only in Egypt, but, fays Suidas,f 
* Plut. in Vit. Alexandri. 
+ *§ Babemus nunc,” fays Wolfius, ** Hoe 
merum; non qui viguit in ore Geetanie 
fuorurn, fed inde a Solosis temporibus ufgue 
ad hc Alexandrina mutatum, varie inter- 
polatuin, caftigatum et emendatum.” WoLF. 
Proleg. 264. 
Leu T..1, p. 509. et. Aut vet. Vit. 
Arathi in PetaviUranol, p. 270. A. 
Y ¥ Syria 
