850 The Odyffey, and finaller Poems of Ifomer.—WNo. V. 
Syria and other parts of “Afia became 
familiar with the name and poems of 
Homer, which at length, aceording to 
flian,* extended even to Perlia and 
India. 
But thefe poems, fo long ana fo highly 
valued and eitcemed, tuffered a material 
depreciation on the appearance of Chril- 
tianity. The idolatry which had im- 
fected the globe, was now to be! deftroy- 
ed, and the fyem - of mythology, of 
which Homer appeared to be the tather, 
was equally to be abolifhed. Not only 
was his fame in a great degree impaired, 
but he was conlidered by the rigid tathers 
of the Chrifiian church, as the man by 
whom the world had been betrayed into 
folly and error. He is accufed by Juftin 
Martyr,t of having wilfully fuperinduced 
his own fables on the infpived writings of 
Mofes. The rebeilion.of the giants was 
thought to be taken from the prefump- 
‘tuous erection of the tower of Babel, 
and the cafting of Ate, or firife, out of 
Heayen, was coimpared with the tall of 
Lucifer. His fineit beauties were con- 
fidered only the more pernicious, as 
favouring thofe errors which had fo long 
milled the minds of men, and deroga- 
tory to that purer faith, whichiitwras in 
tended to efiablifh. Thus the reading of 
Homer was difcouraged or forbidden, 
and 
mafter of herefy and fable.. It has been 
remarked that St. Auitin, in applying the 
expretiion dulciffimé vanus to Llomer, 
parted with regret from the perufal of 
an author who had probably been the 
delight of his younver days, and that, 
though his zeal ureed him to reprobate 
the heathen writers, lis underftanding 
was not blind to the fuperior beauties of 
the poem he condemned. But when 
every religious difpute had ceafed, and 
the nations of the earth bowed with fub- 
miffion and reverence to ,the fuperior 
efhcacy of the C ae faith ; ; after many 
ages of darknefs, when nan feemed 
extincuilhed, abd. icience lay dormant, 
the name and peems of Homer ayain re- 
vive]. The effect of his fables and fic- 
tions on the fentiments of mankind was 
no longer dreaded. His mytholovy caine 
to be confidere das only a beautiful rma- 
chinery by which any poet might be ak 
lowed to enlivé “i the obfeurity, or obyiate 
the ftevility, of his fubjeét. They were 
no longer viewed in a religious light ; 
but were valued for their principles ‘and 
ne 
T. 12, C. 48. > Admon. ad Gentes, 
himfelf yeprobated as the great: 
[May f, 
maxims of civil government and life, 
which might be applied to every age. 
And, notwithftanding the mild cenfuré 
of Plato, the extravagant abuie of 
Sealiver, and the ium potent attacks of 
more vecent critics, they appear to have 
re-aifumed their dignity im the worid, 
and fixed themtelves oma balis which it 
is not in the power of time to injure or 
TQlove. 
In enumerating the editions op iiudier, 
we thall only mention thofe which im- 
clude the Lliad and the Odyfley, and 
thofe only which are conledered the bef. 
The firit in parity 1s the Thas & 
Odytiea, Gr. fol. Editio Princeps, 1488, 
in the Britifh Mufeum. . 
Another copy, with the Greek eunalis? 
4to) Bahl 1535, 1545, tbat 
Ilias & Odyfea, Gr. and. Lat. x 
the Scholia, 2 vols. 4to. Amft. 1656 
very beautiful and correct edition. 
Ilas & Odyflea, by Barnes, 2 ‘vols. 
4to. Cantab. 1711. Dr. Barnes fpeut 
his whole fortune on this publication, 
which maintains its diftinétion, not mere- 
ly from its magnitude and the erudition 
of the editor, but from the Che clea 
Greek Schoha ‘fabjoimed to the text. 
~ Homeri Opera, Oxon. Gr. EHius, 8vo. 
1714; Odyjjea, 1705. This is one of 
the mott correct editions of Homer. 
Homeri Opera, Gr. and Lat. cum nova 
verfione & ‘uotis Sam. Clarke, London, 
2 vols. 4to, 1729-1740. If this edition 
had the Scholia, it weuld be oe 
to thatof Barnes. 
Ilias & Odyflea, Gr. 2 Glaf- 
vols. fol. 
gow, 1758, One of the mott fplendid 
editions, as well as the molt correct. 
Mr. Lunn, of Soho-fquare, has a fuperb 
copy of this edition, witli dehuns by Fiax- 
mnan, and magnificently bound by} Stag- 
gemeier. 
Thas & Odyffea, Oxon, 1780, 5 vols. 
large Svo, with the Ilymns aie Index 
complete, allo fome of the more valuable 
Schoha: a beautifully prmted book. 
Ihad and Odyiley, with notes, by 
Wakefield, 11 vols. Lond. 1796. 
tiomer} ‘Opera; cura E, A. Wolf, Hal. 
Sax. 1794-1605, with the excellent 
Prolegomena. hee 
Homer) Carmina, 
; cura C. G Heyne, . 
Lips. 8 vols, 1802.* 
* Moft of vee editions may be had»at 
Mr. Lunn’s Claflical eee oe. in Soho-{quare, 
which for its colleGtion of fearce and fplendid ) 
copies of the Greek and Latin Claflics, is not 
excelled by any other in Eyrope, except the 
public libraries. 
MEMOIRS 
