I.

WE have here a new Scene of Action opened; the Poet has hitherto given us an Account of what happened by Day only: the two following Books relate the Adventures of the Night.

It may be thought that Homer has crowded a great many Actions into a very short Time. In the ninth Book a Coun­cil is conven'd, an Embassy sent, a considerable Time passes in the Speeches and Replies of the Embassadors and Achilles: In the tenth Book a second Council is call'd, after this a De­bate is held, Dolon is intercepted, Diomed and Ulysses enter into the Enemy's Camp, kill Rhesus, and bring away his Hor­ses: And all this done in the narrow Compass of one Night.

It must therefore be remember'd that the ninth Book takes up the first Part of the Night only; that after the first Council was dissolv'd, there pass'd some time before the second was summon'd, as appears by the Leaders being awa­kened by Menelaus. So that it was almost Morning before Diomed and Ulysses set out upon their Design, which is very evident from the Words of Ulysses, Book. 10. ℣. 251.

[Page 46]So that altho' a great many Incidents are introduc'd, yet eve­ry thing might easily have been perform'd in the allotted Time.

II.

‘VERSE 7. From Thracia's Shore.]’ Homer has been sup­pos'd by Eratosthenes and others, to have been guilty of an Error, in saying that Zephyrus or the West Wind blows from Thrace, whereas in Truth it blows toward it. But the Poet speaks so either because it is fabled to be the Rendezvous of all the Winds; or with respect to the particular Situation of Troy and the Aegean Sea. Either of these Replies are sufficient to solve that Objection.

The particular Parts of this Comparison agree admirably with the Design of Homer, to express the Distraction of the Greeks: the two Winds representing the different Opinions of the Armies, one Part of which were inclin'd to return, the other to stay. Eustathius.

III.

‘VERSE 15. But bid in Silence.]’ The Reason why Agamem­non commands his Heralds to summon the Leaders in Silence, is for fear the Enemy should discover their Consternation, by reason of their Nearness, or perceive what their Designs were in this Extremity. Eustathius.

IV.

‘VERSE 23. Agamemnon's Speech.]’ The Criticks are divided in their Opinion whether this Speech, which is word for word the same with that he makes in Lib. 2. be only a Feint to try the Army, as it is there, or the real Sentiments of the Ge­neral. Dionysius of Halicarnassus explains it as the former, with whom Madam Dacier concurs; she thinks they must be both counterfeit, because they are both the same, and believes Homer would have varied them, had the Design been diffe­rent. She takes no notice that Eustathius is of the contrary [Page 47] Opinion; as is also Monsieur de la Motte, who argues as if he had read him. ‘"Agamemnon (says he) in the second Iliad thought himself assured of Victory from the Dream which Jupiter had sent to him, and in that Confidence was desirous to bring the Greeks to a Battel: But in the ninth Book his Circumstances are changed, he is in the utmost Distress and Despair upon his Defeat, and therefore his Proposal to raise the Siege is in all Probability sincere. If Homer had intended we should think otherwise, he would have told us so, as he did on the former Occasion; and some of the Officers would have suspected a Feint the ra­ther, because they had been impos'd upon by the same Speech before. But none of them suspect him at all. Dio­med thinks him so much in earnest as to reproach his Cow­ardice, Nestor applauds Diomed's Liberty, and Agamemnon makes not the least Defence for himself.’

Dacier answers, that Homer had no Occasion to tell us this was counterfeit, because the Officers could not but remember it to have been so before; and as for the Answers of Diomed and Nestor, they only carry on the same Feint, as Dionysius has prov'd, whose Reasons may be seen in the following Note.

I do not pretend to decide upon this Point; but which way soever it be, I think Agamemnon's Design was equally answer'd by repeating the same Speech: So that the Repeti­tion at least is not to be blamed in Homer. What obliged Agamemnon to that Feint in the second Book was the Hatred he had incurred in the Army by being the Cause of Achilles's Departure; this made it but a necessary Precaution in him to try, before he came to a Battel, whether the Greeks were dispos'd to it? And it was equally necessary, in case the E­vent should prove unsuccessful, to free himself from the Odi­um of being the occasion of it. Therefore when they were now actually defeated, to repeat the same Words, was the readiest way to put them in mind that he had propos'd the same Advice to them before the Battel; and to make it ap­pear unjust that their ill Fortune should be charged upon him. See the 5th and 8th Notes on the second Iliad.

V.

‘VERSE 43. The Speech of Diomed.]’ I shall here translate the Criticism of Dionysius on this Passage. He asks, ‘"What can be the Drift of Diomed, when he insults Agamemnon in his Griefs and Distresses? For what Diomed here says seems not only very ill tim'd, but inconsistent with his own Opinion, and with the Respect he had shewn in the be­ginning of this very Speech.If I upbraid thee, Prince, thy Wrath with-hold, The Laws of Council bid my Tongue be bold.This is the Introduction of a Man in Temper, who is willing to soften and Excuse the Liberty of what is to fol­low, and what Necessity only obliges him to utter. But he subjoins a Resentment of the Reproach the King had formerly thrown upon him, and tells him that Jupiter had given him Power and Dominion without Courage and Vir­tue. These are things which agree but ill together, that Diomed should upbraid Agamemnon in his Adversity with past Injuries, after he had endur'd his Reproaches with so much Moderation, and had reproved Sthenelus so warm­ly for the contrary Practice in the fourth Book. If any one answer, that Diomed was warranted in this Freedom by the Bravery of his warlike Behaviour since that Re­proach, he supposes this Hero very ignorant how to de­mean himself in Prosperity. The Truth is, this whole Accusation of Diomed's is only a Feint to serve the De­signs of Agamemnon. For being desirous to persuade the Greeks against their Departure, he effects that Design by this counterfeited Anger, and License of Speech: And seeming to resent, that Agamemnon should be capable of imagining the Army would return to Greece, he artificially makes use of these Reproaches to cover his Argument. This is farther confirm'd by what follows, when he bids Agamemnon return, if he pleases, and affirms that the Gre­cians will stay without him. Nay he carries the Matter so [Page 49] far, as to boast, that if all the rest should depart, himself and Sthenelus alone would continue the War, which would be extremely childish and absurd in any other View than this.’

VI.

‘VERSE 73. The Speech of Nestor.]’ ‘"Nestor (continues Dionysius) seconds the Oration of Diomed: We shall per­ceive the Artifice of his Discourse, if we reflect to how lit­tle Purpose it would be without this Design. He praises Diomed for what he has said, but does it not without de­claring, that he had not spoken fully to the Purpose, and fallen short in some Points, which he ascribes to his Youth, and promises to supply them. Then after a long Pream­ble, when he has turn'd himself several ways, as if he was sporting in a new and uncommon Vein of Oratory, he con­cludes by ordering the Watch to their Stations, and advi­sing Agamemnon to invite the Elders of the Army to a Supper, there, out of many Counsels, to chuse the best. All this at first Sight appears absurd: But we must know that Nestor too speaks in Figure. Diomed seems to quarrel with Agamemnon, purely to gratify him; but Ne­stor praises his Liberty of Speech, as it were to vindicate a real Quarrel with the King. The End of all this is only to move Agamemnon to supplicate Achilles; and to that End he so much commends the young Man's Freedom. In proposing to call a Council only of the eldest, he con­sults the Dignity of Agamemnon, that he might not be expos'd to make this Condescension before the younger Officers. And he concludes by an artful Inference of the absolute Necessity of applying to Achilles from the present Posture of their Affairs.See what a Blaze from hostile Tents aspires, How near our Fleets approach the Trojan Fires!This is all Nestor says at this time before the general As­sembly of the Greeks; but in his next Speech, when the Elders only are present, he explains the whole Matter at [Page 50] large, and openly declares that they must have Recourse to Achilles.’ Dion. Hal. [...], p. 2.

Plutarch de aud. Poetis, takes notice of this Piece of Deco­rum in Nestor, who when he intended to move for a Media­tion with Achilles, chose not to do it in publick, but propos'd a private Meeting of the Chiefs to that End. If what these two great Authors have said be consider'd, there will be no room for the trivial Objection some Moderns have made to this Proposal of Nestor's, as if in the present Distress he did no more than impertinently advise them to go to Supper.

VII.

‘VERSE 53. They gave thee Sceptres, &c.]’ This is the Lan­guage of a brave Man, to affirm and say boldly, that Cou­rage is above Scepters and Crowns. Scepters and Crowns were indeed in former Times not hereditary, but the Recom­pence of Valour. With what Art and Haughtiness Diomed sets himself indirectly above Agamemnon? Eustathius.

VIII.

‘VERSE 62. And nearest to the Main.]’ There is a secret Stroke of Satyr in these Words: Diomed tells the King that his Squadron lies next the Sea, insinuating that they were the most distant from the Battel, and readiest for Flight. Eustathius.

IX.

‘VERSE 68. God bade us fight, and 'twas with God we came.]’ This is literal from the Greek, and therein may be seen the Style of holy Scripture, where 'tis said that they come with God, or that they are not come without God, meaning that they did not come without his Order: Numquid sine Domino ascendi in terram istam? says Rabshekah to Hezekiah in Isaiah 36. ℣. 8. This Passage seems to be very beautiful. Homer adds it to shew that the Valour of Diomed, which puts him upon remaining alone with Sthenelus, when all the Greeks [Page 51] were gone, is not a Rash and mad Boldness, but a reason­able one, and founded on the Promises of God himself, who cannot lye. Dacier.

X.

‘VERSE 73. Oh truly great.]’ Nestor could do no less than commend Diomed's Valour, he had lately been a Witness of it when he was preserv'd from falling into the Enemy's Hands till he was rescu'd by Diomed. Eustathius.

XI.

‘VERSE 87. Curs'd is the Man.]’ Nestor, says the same Author, very artfully brings in these Words as a general Maxim, in order to dispose Agamemnon to a Reconciliation with Achilles: He delivers it in general Terms, and leaves the King to make the Application. This Passage is transla­ted with Liberty, for the Original comprizes a great deal in a very few Words, [...], [...], [...]; it will be proper to give a particular Explication of each of these; [...], says Eustathius, signifies one who is a Vagabond or Fo­reigner. The Athenians kept a Register, in which all that were born were enroll'd, whence it easily appear'd who were Citizens, or not; [...] therefore signifies one who is de­priv'd of the Privilege of a Citizen. [...] is one that had forfeited all Title to be protected by the Laws of his Coun­try. [...], one that has no Habitation, or rather one that was not permitted to partake of any Family Sacrifice. For [...] is a Family Goddess; and Jupiter sometimes is cal­led [...].

There is a sort of Gradation in these Words. [...] signifies a Man that has lost the Privileges of his Country; [...] those of his own Tribe, and [...] those of his own Family.

XII.

‘VERSE 94. Between the Trench and Wall.]’ It is almost impossible to make such Particularities as these appear with any tolerable Elegance in Poetry: And as they cannot be rais'd, so neither must they be omitted. This particular Space here mention'd between the Trench and Wall, is what we must carry in our Mind thro' this and the following Book: Otherwise we shall be at a loss to know the exact Scene of the Actions and Councils that follow.

XIII.

‘VERSE 119. The Fires they light.]’ They lighted up a Fire that they might not seem to be under any Consternation, but to be upon their Guard against any Alarm. Eustathius.

XIV.

‘VERSE 124. When Thirst and Hunger ceast.]’ The Con­duct of Homer in this Place is very remarkable; he does not fall into a long Description of the Entertainment, but complies with the Exigence of Affairs, and passes on to the Consultation. Eustathius.

XV.

‘VERSE 138. And make the Wisdom thine.]’ Eustathius thought that Homer said this, because in Councils, as in the Army, all is attributed to the Princes, and the whole Honour ascrib'd to them: but this is by no means Homer's Thought. What he here says, is a Maxim drawn from profoundest Philoso­phy. That which often does Men the most harm, is Envy, and the Shame of yielding to Advice, which proceeds from others. There is more Greatness and Capacity in following good Ad­vice, than in proposing it; by executing it, we render it our own, and we ravish even the Property of it from its Au­thor; and Eustathius seems to incline to this Thought, when [Page 53] he afterwards says, Homer makes him that follows good Ad­vice, equal to him that gives it; but he has not fully ex­press'd himself. Dacier.

XVI.

‘VERSE 140. At once my present Judgment and my past.]’ Nestor here by the word [...], means the Advice he gave at the time of the Quarrel in the first Book: He says, as it was his Opinion then that Agamemnon ought not to disgrace Achilles, so after the maturest Deliberation, he finds no Reason to alter it. Nestor here launches out into the Praises of A­chilles, which is a secret Argument to induce Agamemnon to regain his Friendship, by shewing the Importance of it. Eustathius.

XVII.

‘VERSE 151. This wondrous Hero.]’ It is remarkable that Agamemnon here never uses the Name of Achilles: tho' he is resolv'd to court his Friendship, yet he cannot bear the men­tion of his Name. The Impression which the Dissention made, is not yet worn off, tho' he expatiates in Commenda­tion of his Valour. Eustathius.

XVIII.

‘VERSE 155. If Gifts immense his mighty Soul can bow.]’ The Poet, says Eustathius, makes a wise Choice of the Gifts that are to be proffer'd to Achilles. Had he been ambitious of Wealth, there are golden Tripods, and ten Talents of Gold to bribe his Resentment. If he had been addicted to the Fair Sex, there was a King's Daughter and seven fair Cap­tives to win his Favour. Or if he had been ambitious of Greatness, there were seven wealthy Cities and a Kingly Power to court him to a Reconciliation: But he takes this way to shew us that his Anger was stronger than all his o­ther Passions. It is farther observable, that Agamemnon pro­mises these Presents at three different times; first, at this In­stant; [Page 54] secondly, on the taking of Troy; and lastly, after their Return to Greece. This Division in some degree mul­tiplies them. Dacier.

XIX.

‘VERSE 157. Ten weighty Talents.]’ The ancient Criticks have blamed one of the Verses in the Enumeration of these Presents, as not sufficiently flowing and harmonious, the Pause is ill placed, and one word does not fall easily into the other. This will appear very plain if we compare it with a more numerous Verse.

The Ear immediately perceives the Musick of the former Line, every Syllable glides smoothly away, without offending the Ear with any such Roughness, as is found in the second. The first runs as swiftly as the Wind which it describes; but the latter is a broken interrupted uneven Verse. But it is certainly pardonable in this Place, where the Musick of Poe­try is not necessary; the Mind is entirely taken up in learn­ing what Presents Agamemnon intended to make Achilles: and is not at leisure to regard the Ornaments of Versification; and even those Pauses are not without their Beauties, as they would of Necessity cause a Stop in the Delivery, and so give time for each Particular to sink into the Mind of Achilles. Eustathius.

XX.

‘VERSE 159. Sev'n sacred Tripods.]’ There were two kinds of Tripods: in the one they used to boil Water, the other was entirely for Shew, to mix Wine and Water in, says Athenaeus: the first were called [...], or Cauldrons, for common Use, and made to bear the Fire; the other were [...], and made chiefly for Ornament. It may be ask'd why this could be a proper Present for Achilles, who was a martial Man, and [Page 55] regarded nothing but Arms? It may be answer'd, that these Presents were very well suited to the Person to whom they were sent, as Tripods in ancient Days were the usual Prizes in Games, and they were given by Achilles himself in those which he exhibited in Honour of Patroclus: the same may be said of the female Captives, which are also among the Prizes in the Games of Patroclus. Eustathius.

XXI.

‘VERSE 161. Twelve Steeds unmatch'd.]’ From hence it is evident that Games us'd to be celebrated in the Grecian Ar­my during the Time of War; perhaps in Honour of the de­ceas'd Heroes. For had Agamemnon sent Achilles Horses that had been victorious before the beginning of the Tro­jan War, they would by this time have been too old to be of any Value. Eustathius.

XXII

‘VERSE 189. Laodice and Iphigenia, &c.]’ These are the Names of Agamemnon's Daughters, among which we do not find Electra. But some affirm, says Eustathius, that Laodice and Electra are the same, (as Iphianassa is the same with Iphigenia) and she was called so, either by way of Sir-name, or by reason of her Complexion, which was [...], flava; or by way of Derision [...] quasi [...], because she was an old Maid, as appears from Euripides, who says that she remain'd long a Virgin.

And in Sophocles she says of herself, [...], I wander a disconsolate unmarry'd Virgin, which shews that it was ever look'd upon as a Disgrace to continue long so.

XXIII.

‘VERSE 192. I ask no Presents—My self will give the Dow'r.]’ For in Greece the Bridegroom, before he marry'd, was obli­ged to make two Presents, one to his betroth'd Wife, and the other to his Father in Law. This Custom is very anci­ent; it was practised by the Hebrews in the time of the Pa­triarchs. Abraham's Servant gave Necklaces and Ear-rings to Rebecca, whom he demanded for Isaac. Genesis 24. 22. Shechem Son of Hamor says to Jacob and his Sons, whose Sister he was desirous to espouse, ‘"Ask me never so much Dowry and Gifts.’ Genesis 34. 12. For the Dowry was for the Daughter. This Present serv'd for her Dowry, and the other Presents were for the Father. In the first Book of Sa­muel 18. 25. Saul makes them say to David, who by reason of his Poverty said he could not be Son in Law to the King: ‘"The King desireth not any Dowry.’ And in the two last Passages, we see the Presents were commonly regulated by the Father of the Bride. There is no mention in Homer of any Present made to the Father, but only of that which was given to the married Daughter, which was call'd [...]. The Dowry which the Father gave to his Daughter was called [...]: Wherefore Agamemnon says here [...]. Dacier.

XXIV.

‘VERSE 209. Pluto, the grizly God, who never spares.]’ The meaning of this may be gather'd from Aeschylus, cited here by Eustathius.

Death is the only God who is not mov'd by Offerings, whom you cannot conquer by Sacrifices and Oblations, and there­fore he is the only God to whom no Altar is erected, and no Hymns are sung.

XXV.

‘VERSE 221. Let Phoenix lead.]’ How comes it to pass that Phoenix is in the Grecian Camp: when undoubtedly he retir'd with his Pupil Achilles? Eustathius says the Ancients con­jectur'd that he came to the Camp to see the last Battel: and indeed nothing is more natural to imagine, than that Achilles would be impatient to know the Event of the Day, when he was himself absent from the Fight: and as his Revenge and Glory were to be satisfied by the ill Success of the Grecians, It is highly probable that he sent Phoenix to enquire after it. Eustathius farther observes, Phoenix was not an Embassador, but only the Conductor of the Embassy. This is evident from the Words themselves, which are all along deliver'd in the dual Number; and farther from Achilles's requiring Phoenix to stay with him when the other two departed.

XXVI.

‘VERSE 222. Great Ajax next, and Ithacus the sage.]’ The Choice of these Persons is made with a great deal of Judgment. Achilles could not but reverence the venerable Phoenix his Guardian and Tutor. Ajax and Ulysses had been disgrac'd in the first Book, Line 145, as well as he, and were therefore Instances of that Forgiveness they came to ask: be­sides it was the greatest Honour that could be done to Achilles to send the most worthy Personages in the Army to him. Ulysses was inferior to none in Eloquence but to Nestor. Ajax was second to none in Valour but to Achilles.

Ajax might have an Influence over him as a Relation, by Descent from Aeacus, Ulysses as an Orator: To these are join'd Hodius and Eurybates, two Heralds, which tho it were not customary, yet was necessary in this Place, both to cer­tify Achilles that this Embassage was the Act of Agamemnon himself, and also to make these Persons who had been Wit­nesses before God and Man of the Wrong done to Achilles in respect to Briseis, Witnesses also of the Satisfaction given him. Eustathius.

XXVII.

‘VERSE 235. Much he advis'd them all, Ulysses most.]’ There is a great Propriety in representing Nestor as so par­ticularly applying himself on this Occasion to Ulysses. Tho' he of all Men had the least need of his Instructions; yet it is highly natural for one wise Man to talk most to another.

XXVIII.

‘VERSE 246. Pleas'd with the solemn Harp's harmonious Sound.]’ ‘"Homer (says Plutarch) to prove what an excellent Use may be made of Musick, feign'd Achilles to compose by this means the Wrath he had conceiv'd against Aga­memnon. He sung to his Harp the noble Actions of the Valiant, and the Atchievements of Heroes and Demigods, a Subject worthy of Achilles. Homer moreover teaches us in this Fiction the proper Season for Musick, when a Man is at leisure and unemploy'd in greater Affairs. For Achilles, so valorous as he was, had retir'd from Action thro' his Displeasure to Agamemnon. And nothing was better suited to the martial Disposition of this Hero, than these heroick Songs, that prepared him for the Deeds and Toils he af­terwards undertook, by the Celebration of the like in those who had gone before him. Such was the ancient Musick, and to such Purposes it was apply'd.’ Plut. of Mu­sick. The same Author relates in the Life of Alexander, that when the Lyre of Paris was offer'd to that Prince, he made answer, ‘"He had little Value for it, but much desired that of Achilles, on which he sung the Actions of Heroes in former Times.’

XXIX.

‘VERSE 261. Princes all hail!]’ This short Speech is won­derfully proper to the Occasion, and to the Temper of the Speaker. One is under a great Expectation of what A­chilles [Page 59] will say at the Sight of these Heroes, and I know no­thing in Nature that could satisfy it, but the very thing he here accosts them with.

XXX.

‘VERSE 268. Mix purer Wine.]’ The Meaning of this word [...] is very dubious; some say it signifies warm Wine, from [...], ferveo: According to Aristotle, it is an Ad­verb, and implies to mix Wine quickly. And others think it signifies pure Wine. In this last Sense Herodotus uses it. ‘ [...].’ Which in English is thus: ‘"When the Spartans have an Inclination to drink their Wine pure and not diluted, they propose to drink after the Manner of the Scythians; some of whom coming Embassadors to Sparta, taught Cleomenes to drink his Wine unmix'd.’ I think this Sense of the Word is most natural, and Achilles might give this particular Order not to dilute the Wine so much as usually, because the Embassadors who were brave Men, might be suppos'd to be much fatigu'd in the late Bat­tel, and to want a more than usual Refreshment. Eustathius. See Plutarch Symp. l. 4. c. 5.

XXXI.

‘VERSE 271. Patroclus o'er the blazing Fire, &c.]’ The Reader must not expect to find much Beauty in such Descri­ptions as these: they give us an exact Account of the Sim­plicity of that Age, which for all we know might be a Part of Homer's Design; there being, no doubt, a considerable Change of Customs in Greece from the Time of the Trojan War to those wherein our Author lived; and it seem'd demanded of him to omit nothing that might give the Greeks an Idea of the Manners of their Predecessors. But however that Matter stood, it should methinks be a Pleasure to a modern Reader to see how such mighty Men, whose Actions have surviv'd their Persons three thousand Years, liv'd in the earliest Ages [Page 60] of the World. The Embassadors found this Hero, says Eu­stathius, without any Attendants, he had no Ushers or Wai­ters to introduce them, no servile Parasites about him: The latter Ages degenerated into these Pieces of State and Page­antry.

The Supper also is describ'd with an equal Simplicity: three Princes are busied in preparing it, and they who made the greatest Figure in the Field of Battel, thought it no Dis­paragement to prepare their own Repast. The Objections some have made that Homer's Gods and Heroes do every thing for themselves, as if several of those Offices were un­worthy of them, proceeds from the corrupt Idea of modern Luxury and Grandeur: Whereas in truth it is rather a Weak­ness and Imperfection to stand in need of the Assistance and Ministry of others. But however it be, methinks those of the nicest Taste might relish this Entertainment of Homer's, when they consider these great Men as Soldiers in a Camp, in whom the least Appearance of Luxury would have been a Crime.

XXXII.

‘VERSE 271. Patroclus o'er the blazing Fire.]’ Madam Da­cier's general Note on this Passage deserves to be transcribed. ‘"Homer, says she, is in the right not to avoid these Descri­ptions, because nothing can properly be called vulgar which is drawn from the Manner and Usages of Persons of the first Dignity; and also because in his Tongue even the Terms of Cookery are so noble, and of so agreeable a Sound, and he likewise knows how to place them so well, as to ex­tract a perfect Harmony from them: So that he may be said to be as excellent a Poet, when he describes these small Matters, as when he treats of the greatest Subjects. 'Tis not so either with our Manners, or our Language. Cookery is left to Servants, and all its Terms so low and disagree­able, even in the Sound, that nothing can be made of them, that has not some Taint of their Meanness. This great Disadvantage made me at first think of abridging this Preparation of the Repast; but when I had well con­sider'd [Page 61] it, I was resolv'd to preserve and give Homer as he is, without retrenching any thing from the Simplicity of the heroick Manners. I do not write to enter the List against Homer, I will dispute nothing with him; my De­sign is only to give an Idea of him, and to make him be understood: The Reader will therefore forgive me if this Description has none of its original Graces.’

XXXIII.

‘VERSE 272. In a Brazen Vase.]’ The word [...] signifies the Vessel, and not the Meat itself, as Euphorion conjectured, giving it as a Reason that Homer makes no mention of boiled Meat: But this does not hinder but that the Meat might be parboil'd in the Vessel to make it roast the sooner. This, with some other Notes on the Particulars of this Passage, be­long to Eustathius, and Madam Dacier ought not to have ta­ken to herself the Merit of his Explanations.

XXXIV.

‘VERSE 282. And sprinkles sacred Salt.]’ Many Reasons are given why Salt is called sacred or divine, but the best is because it preserves things incorrupt, and keeps them from Dissolution. ‘"So Thunder (says Plutarch Sympos. l. 5. qu. 10.) is called divine, because Bodies struck with Thunder will not putrify; besides Generation is divine, because God is the Principle of all things, and Salt is most operative in Generation. Lycophron calls it [...]: For this Reason Venus was feign'd by the Poets to spring from the Sea.’

XXXV.

‘VERSE 291. To Phoenix Ajax gave the Sign.]’ Ajax who was a rough Soldier and no Orator, is impatient to have the Business over: He makes a Sign to Phoenix to begin, but Ulysses pre­vents him. Perhaps Ulysses might flatter himself that his O­ratory [Page 62] would prevail upon Achilles, and so obtain the Honour of making the Reconciliation himself: Or if he were repuls'd, there yet remain'd a second and third Resource in Ajax and Phoenix, who might renew the Attempt, and endeavour to shake his Resolution: There would still be some hopes of Success, as one of these was his Guardian, the other his Re­lation. One may farther add to these Reasons of Eustathius, that it would have been improper for Phoenix to have spoken first, since he was not an Embassador; and therefore Ulysses was the fitter Person, as being impower'd by that Function to make an Offer of the Presents in the Name of the King.

XXXVI.

‘VERSE 295. Health to Achilles.]’ There are no Discourses in the Iliad better placed, better tim'd, or that give a greater Idea of Homer's Genius, than these of the Embassadors to Achilles. These Speeches are not only necessarily demanded by the Occasion, but disposed with Art, and in such an Or­der, as raises more and more the Pleasure of the Reader. Ulysses speaks the first, the Character of whose Discourse is a well-address'd Eloquence; so the Mind is agreeably engag'd by the Choice of his Reasons and Applications: Achilles re­plies with a magnanimous Freedom, whereby the Mind is elevated with the Sentiments of the Hero: Phoenix discourses in a manner touching and pathetick, whereby the Heart is moved: and Ajax concludes with a generous Disdain, that leaves the Soul of the Reader inflamed. This Order un­doubtedly denotes a great Poet, who knows how to command Attention as he pleases by the Arrangement of his Matter; and I believe it it not possible to propose a better Model for the happy Disposition of a Subject. These Words are Mon­sieur de la Motte's, and no Testimony can be more glorious to Homer than this, which comes from the Mouth of an Enemy.

XXXVII.

‘VERSE 296. Not those more honour'd whom Atrides feasts.]’ I must just mention Dacier's Observation: With what Cun­ning Ulysses here slides in the odious Name of Agamemnon, as he praises Achilles, that the Ear of this impetuous Man might be familiariz'd to that Name.

XXXVIII.

‘VERSE 314. He waits but for the Morn, to sink in Flame The Ships, the Greeks, &c.]’ There is a Circumstance in the Original which I have omitted, for fear of being too parti­cular in an Oration of this Warmth and Importance; but as it preserves a Piece of Antiquity I must not forget it here. He says that Hector will not only fire the Fleet, but bear off the Statues of the Gods, which were carv'd on the Prows of the Vessels. These were hung up in the Temples, as a Mo­nument of Victory, according to the Custom of those Times.

XXXIX.

‘VERSE 342. But hear me, while I number o'er The prof­fer'd Presents.]’ Monsieur de la Motte finds fault with Homer for making Ulysses in this Place repeat all the Offers of Aga­memnon to Achilles. Not to answer that it was but necessary to make known to Achilles all the Proposals, or that this distinct Enumeration serv'd the more to move him, I think one may appeal to any Person of common Taste whether the solemn Recital of these Circumstances does not please him more, than the simple Narration could have done, which Monsieur de la Motte would have put in its stead. Ulysses made all the Offers Agamemnon had commission'd him.

XL.

‘VERSE 406. Achilles's Speech.]’ Nothing is more remar­kable than the Conduct of Homer in this Speech of Achilles. He begins with some degree of Coolness, as in respect to the Embassadors whose Persons he esteem'd, yet even there his Temper just shews itself in the Insinuation that Ulysses had dealt artfully with him, which in two Periods rises into an open Detestation of all Artifice. He then falls into a sullen Declaration of his Resolves, and a more sedate Representa­tion of his past Services; but warms as he goes on, and eve­ry Minute he but names his Wrongs, flies out into Extra­vagance. His Rage awaken'd by that Injury, is like a Fire blown by a Wind, that sinks and rises by fits, but keeps con­tinually burning, and blazes but the more for those Inter­missions.

XLI.

‘VERSE 424. As the bold Bird, &c.]’ This Simile (says La Motte) must be allow'd to be just, but was not fit to be spo­ken in a Passion. One may answer, that the Tenderness of the Comparison renders it no way the less proper to a Man in a Passion, it being natural enough, the more one is disgust­ed at present, the more to recollect the Kindness we have formerly shewn to those who are ungrateful. Eustathius ob­serves, that so soft as the Simile seems, it has nevertheless its fiertè; for Achilles herein expresses his Contempt for the Greeks, as a weak defenceless People, who must have perish­ed if he had not preserved them. And indeed if we consi­der what is said in the preceding Note, it will appear that the Passion of Achilles ought not as yet to be at the Height.

XLII.

‘VERSE 432. I sack'd twelve ample Cities.]’ Eustathius says, that the Anger of Achilles not only throws him into Tauto­logy, but also into Ambiguity: For, says he, these Words [Page 65] may either signify that he destroy'd twelve Cities with his Ships, or barely Cities with twelve Ships. But Eustathius in this Place is like many other Commentators, who can see a Meaning in a Sentence that never enter'd into the Thoughts of an Author. It is not easy to conceive how Achilles could have express'd himself more clearly. There is no doubt but [...] agrees with the same word that [...] does, in the following Line, which is certainly [...]: and there is a manifest Enu­meration of the Places he had conquer'd, by Sea, and by Land.

XLIII.

‘VERSE 450. The Wife whom Choice and Passion both approve, Sure ev'ry wise and worthy Man will love.]’ The Argument of Achilles in this Place is very a-propos with Reference to the Case of Agamemnon. If I translated it verbatim, I must say in plain English, Every honest Man loves his Wife. Thus Homer has made this rash, this fiery Soldier, govern'd by his Passions, and in the Rage of Youth, bear Testimony to his own Respect for the Ladies. But it seems Poltis King of Thrace was of another Opinion, who would have parted with two Wives, out of pure Good-nature to two meer Strangers; as I have met with the Story somewhere in Plutarch. When the Greeks were raising Forces against Troy, they sent Embas­sadors to this Poltis to desire his Assistance. He enquir'd the Cause of the War, and was told it was the Injury Paris had done Menelaus in taking his Wife from him. ‘"If that be all, said the good King, let me accomodate the Difference: Indeed it is not just the Greek Prince should lose a Wife, and on the other side it is pity the Trojan should want one. Now I have two Wives, and to prevent all this Mischief, I'll send one of them to Menelaus, and the other to Paris.’ It is a shame this Story is so little known, and that poor Poltis yet remains uncelebrated: I cannot but recommend him to the modern Poets.

XLIV.

‘VERSE 457. Your King, Ulysses, may consult with you.]’ Achilles still remembers what Agamemnon said to him when they quarrel'd, Other brave Warriors will be left behind to follow me in Battel, as we have seen in the first Book. He answers here without either sparing Ajax or Ulysses; as much his Friends as they are, they have their Share in this Stroke of Raillery. Eustathius.

XLV.

‘VERSE 459. Has he not Walls?]’ This is a bitter Satyr (says Eustathius) against Agamemnon, as if his only Deeds were the making of this Wall, this Ditch, these Palli­sades, to defend himself against those whom he came to besiege: There was no need of these Retrenchments, whilst Achilles fought. But (as Dacier observes) this Satyr does not affect Agamemnon only, but Nestor too, who had advis'd the making of these Retrenchments, and who had said in the second Book, If there are a few who separate themselves from the rest of the Army, let them stay and perish, ℣. 346. Probably this had been reported to Achilles, and that Hero revenges himself here by mocking these Re­trenchments.

XLVI.

‘VERSE 473. Pthia the third Day hence, &c.]’ Monsieur de la Motte thinks the mention of these minute Circumstances not to agree with the passionate Character of the Speaker; that he shall arrive at Pthia in three Days, that he shall find there all the Riches he left when he came to the Siege, and that he shall carry other Treasures home. Dacier answers, that we need only consider the present Situation of Achilles, and his Cause of Complaint against Agamemnon, and we shall be satisfied here is nothing but what is exactly agreeable to the Oc­casion. To convince the Embassadors that he will return home, [Page 67] he instances the Easiness of doing it, in the Space of three Days. Agamemnon had injur'd him in the Point of Booty, he there­fore declares he had sufficient Treasures at home, and that he will carry off Spoils enough, and Women enough, to make amends for those that Prince had ravish'd from him. Every one of these Particulars marks his Passion and Resentment.

XLVII.

‘VERSE 481. One only valu'd Gift your Tyrant gave.]’ The Injury which Agamemnon offer'd to Achilles is still uppermost in his Thoughts, he has but just dismiss'd it, and now re­turns to it again. These Repetitions are far from being Faults in Achilles's Wrath, whose Anger is perpetually break­ing out upon the same Injury.

XLVIII.

‘VERSE 494. Kings of such a kind Stand but as Slaves before a noble Mind.]’ The Words in the Greek are, I despise him as a Carian. The Carians were People of Boeotia, the first that sold their Valour, and were ready to fight for any that gave them their Pay. This was look'd upon as the vi­lest of Actions in those heroical Ages. I think there is at pre­sent but one Nation in the World distinguish'd for this Practice, who are ready to prostitute their Hands to kill for the high­est Bidder.

Eustathius endeavours to give many other Solutions of this Place, as that [...] may be mistaken for [...] from [...], pediculus; but this is too mean and trivial to be Homer's Sentiment. There is more Probability that it comes from [...], [...], and so [...] by the Change of the Eta into Alpha; and then the Meaning will be, that Achilles hates him as much as Hell or Death, agreeable to what he had said a lit­tle before.

‘VERSE 500. Not all proud Thebes, &c.]’ These several Circumstances concerning Thebes are thought by some not to suit with that Emotion with which Achilles here is suppos'd to speak: but the contrary will appear true, if we reflect that nothing is more usual for Persons transported with Anger, than to insist, and return to such Particulars as most touch them; and that Exaggeration is a Figure extremely natural in Passion. Achilles therefore, by shewing the Greatness of Thebes, its Wealth, and Extent, does in Effect but shew the Greatness of his own Soul, and of that insuperable Resent­ment which renders all these Riches (tho' the greatest in the World) contemptible in his Sight, when he compares them with the Indignity his Honour has receiv'd.

L.

‘VERSE 500. Proud Thebes' unrival'd Walls, &c.]’ ‘"The City which the Greeks call Thebes, the Aegyptians Helio­polis (says Diodorus lib. 1. part. 2.) was in Circuit a hun­dred and forty Stadia, adorned with stately Buildings, mag­nificent Temples, and rich Donations. It was not only the most beautiful and noble City of Aegypt, but of the whole World. The Fame of its Wealth and Grandeur was so celebrated in all Parts, that the Poet took notice of it in these Words.— [...] [...] [...] [...]Tho' others affirm it had not a hundred Gates, but seve­ral vast Porches to the Temples; from whence the City was call'd the Hundred-gated, only as having many Gates. Yet it is certain it furnished twenty thousand Chariots of War; for there were a hundred Stables along the River, [Page 69] from Memphis to Thebes towards Lybia, each of which contain'd two hundred Horses, the Ruins whereof are shewn at this Day. The Princes from time to time made it their care to beautify and enlarge this City, to which none un­der the Sun was equal in the many and magnificent Trea­sures of Gold, Silver, and Ivory; with innumerable Co­lossus's, and Obelisques of one entire Stone. There were four Temples admirable in Beauty and Greatness, the most ancient of which was in Circuit thirteen Stadia, and five and forty Cubits in Heighth, with a Wall of four and twenty Foot broad. The Ornaments and Offerings within were agreeable to this Magnificence, both in Value and Workmanship. The Fabrick is yet remaining, but the Gold, Silver, Ivory, and precious Stones were ransack'd by the Persians when Cambyses burn'd the Temples of Aegypt. There were found in the Rubbish above three hundred Ta­lents of Gold, and no less than two thousand three hundred of Silver.’ The same Author proceeds to give many Instan­ces of the Magnificence of this great City. The Description of the Sepulchres of their Kings, and particularly that of Osymanduas, is perfectly astonishing, to which I refer the Reader.

Strabo farther informs us, that the Kings of Thebes ex­tended their Conquests as far as Scythia, Bactria, and India.

LI.

‘VERSE 525. Not all Apollo's Pythian Treasures.]’ The Temple of Apollo at Delphos was the richest Temple in the World, by the Offerings which were brought to it from all Parts; there were Statues of massy Gold of a human Size, Figures of Animals in Gold, and several other Treasures. A great Sign of its Wealth is, that the Phocians pillag'd it in the Time of Philip the Son of Amyntas, which gave Occa­sion to the holy War. 'Tis said to have been pillag'd before, and that the great Riches of which Homer speaks, had been carried away. Eustathius.

LII.

‘VERSE 530. The vital Spirit bled, Returns no more.]’ No­thing sure could be better imagin'd, or more strongly paint Achilles's Resentment, than this Commendation which Ho­mer puts into his Mouth of a long and peaceable Life. That Hero whose very Soul was possessed with Love of Glo­ry, and who prefer'd it to Life itself, lets his Anger prevail over this his darling Passion: He despises even Glory, when he cannot obtain that, and enjoy his Revenge at the same time; and rather than lay this aside, becomes the very Re­verse of himself.

LIII.

‘VERSE 532. My Fates long since by Thetis were disclos'd.]’ It was very necessary for Homer to put the Reader more than once in mind of this Piece of Achilles's Story: There is a Remark of Monsieur de la Motte which deserves to be tran­scribed entire on this Occasion.

LIV.

‘VERSE 565. How shall thy Friend, thy Phoenix stay behind.]’ This is a strong Argument to persuade Achilles to stay, but dress'd up in the utmost Tenderness: the venerable old Man rises with Tears in his Eyes, and speaks the Language of Affection. He tells him that he would not be left behind him, tho' the Gods would free him from the Burthen of old Age, and re­store him to his Youth: But in the midst of so much Fond­ness, he couches a powerful Argument to persuade him not to return home, by adding that his Father sent him to be his Guide and Guardian, Phoenix ought not therefore to fol­low the Inclinations of Achilles, but Achilles the Directions of Phoenix. Eustathius.

‘"The Art of this Speech of Phoenix (says Dionysius [...], lib. 1.) consists in his seeming to agree with all that Achilles had said: Achilles, he sees, will depart; and he must go along with him; but in assigning the Reasons why he must go with him, he proves that Achilles ought not to depart. And thus while he seems only to shew his Love to his Pupil in his Inability to stay behind him, he indeed challenges the other's Gratitude for the Benefits he had confer'd upon him in his Infancy and [Page 72] Education. At the same time that he moves Achilles, he gratifies Agamemnon; and that this was the real Design which he disguised in that manner, we are inform'd by Achilles himself in the Reply he makes: For Homer, and all the Authors that treat of this Figure, generally contrive it so, that the Answers made to these kind of Speeches; discover all the Art and Structure of them. Achilles therefore asks him,Is it for him these Tears are taught to flow, For him these Sorrows, for my mortal Foe?You see the Scholar reveals the Art and Dissimulation of his Master; and as Phoenix had recounted the Benefits done him, he takes off that Expostulation by promising to divide his Empire with him, as may be seen in the same Answer.’

LV.

‘VERSE 567. He sent thee early to th' Achaian Host.]’ A­chilles (says Eustathius) according to some of the Ancients, was but twelve Years old when he went to the Wars of Troy; ( [...]) and it may be gather'd from what the Poet here relates of the Education of Achilles under Phoenix, that the Fable of his being tutor'd by Chiron was the Invention of latter Ages, and unknown to Homer.

Mr. Bayle in his Article of Achilles, has very well proved this. He might indeed as he grew up, have learn'd Musick and Physick of Chiron, without having him formally as his Tutor; for it is plain from this Speech that he was put un­der the Direction of Phoenix as his Governor in Morality, when his Father sent him along with him to the Siege of Troy.

LVI.

‘VERSE 576. My Father, faithless to my Mother's Arms, &c.]’ Homer has been blamed for introducing two long Stories in­to [Page 73] this Speech of Phoenix; this concerning himself is said not to be in the proper Place, and what Achilles must needs have heard over and over: It also gives (say they) a very ill Impression of Phoenix himself, and makes him appear a very unfit Person to be a Teacher of Morality to the young Hero. It is answer'd, that tho' Achilles might have known the Story before in general, 'tis proboble Phoenix had not till now so pressing an Occasion to make him discover the Excess his Fury had transported him to, in attempting the Life of his own Father: The whole Story tends to repre­sent the dreadful Effects of Passion; and I cannot but think the Example is the more forcible, as it is drawn from his own Experience.

LVII.

‘VERSE 579. To win the Damsel.]’ The Counsel that this Mother gives to her Son Phoenix is the same that Achitophel gave to Absolom, to hinder him from ever being reconcil'd to David. Et ait Achitophel ad Absolom: ingredere ad con­cubinos patris tui, quas dimisit ad custodiendam domum, ut cum audierit omnis Israel quod foedaveris patrem tuum, robo­rentur tecum manus eorum. 2 Sam. 14. 20. Dacier.

LVIII.

‘VERSE 579. Prevent my Sire.]’ This Decency of Homer is worthy Observation, who to remove all the disagreeable Ideas which might proceed from this Intrigue of Phoenix with his Father's Mistress, took care to give us to understand in one single word, that Amyntor had no share in her Affections, which makes the Action of Phoenix the more excusable. He does it only in Obedience to his Mother, in order to reclaim his Father, and oblige him to live like her Husband: Be­sides, his Father had yet no Commerce with this Mistress to whose Love he pretended. Had it been otherwise, and had Phoenix committed this sort of Incest, Homer would neither have presented this Image to his Reader, nor Peleus chosen Phoenix to be Governor to Achilles. Dacier.

LIX.

‘VERSE 584. Infernal Jove.]’ The Greek is [...]. The Ancients gave the Name of Jupiter not only to the God of Heaven, but likewise to the God of Hell, as is seen here, and to the God of the Sea, as appears from Aes­chylus. They thereby meant to shew that one sole Deity go­verned the World; and it was to teach the same Truth, that the ancient Statuaries made Statues of Jupiter, which had three Eyes. Priam had one of them in that manner in the Court of his Palace, which was there in Laomedon's Time: After the taking of Troy, when the Greeks shar'd the Booty, it fell to Sthenelus's Lot, who carry'd it into Greece. Dacier.

LX.

‘VERSE 586. Despair and Grief distract, &c.]’ I have ta­ken the Liberty to replace here four Verses which Aristarchus had cut out, because of the Horror which the Idea gave him of a Son who is going to kill his Father; but perhaps Ari­starchus's Niceness was too great. These Verses seem to me necessary, and have a very good Effect; for Phoenix's Aim is to shew Achilles, that unless we overcome our Wrath, we are expos'd to commit the greatest Crimes: He was going to kill his own Father. Achilles in the same manner is going to let his Father Phoenix and all the Greeks perish, if he does not appease his Wrath. Plutarch relates these four Verses in his Treatise of reading the Poets; and adds, ‘"Aristarchus frightned at this horrible Crime, cut out these Verses; but they do very well in this Place, and on this Occasion, Phoenix intending to shew Achilles what Wrath is, and to what abominable Excesses it hurries Men who do not obey Reason, and who refuse to follow the Counsels of those that advise them.’ These sort of Curtailings from Homer, often contrary to all Reason, gave room to Lucian to feign that being in the fortunate Islands, he ask'd Homer a great many Questions. Among other things (says he in [Page 75] his second Book of his true History) ‘"I ask'd him whether he had made all the Verses which had been rejected in his Poem? He assur'd me they were all his own, which made me laugh at the impertinent and bold Criticisms of Zeno­dorus and Aristarchus, who had retrench'd them.’ Dacier.

LXI.

‘VERSE 612. I pass my Watchings o'er thy helpless Years.]’ In the Original of this Place Phoenix tells Achilles, that as he placed him in his Infancy on his Lap, he has often cast up the Wine he had drank upon his Cloaths. I wish I had any Autho­rity to say these Verses were foisted into the Text: For tho' the Idea be indeed natural, it must be granted to be so very gross as to be utterly unworthy of Homer; nor do I see any Colour to soften the Meanness of it: such Images in any Age or Country, must have been too nauseous to be de­scribed.

LXII.

‘VERSE 625. Pray'rs are Jove's Daughters.]’ Nothing can be more beautiful, noble, or religious, than this divine Alle­gory. We have here Goddesses of Homer's Creation, he sets before us their Pictures in lively Colours, and gives these fancy'd Beings all the Features that resemble Mankind who offer Injuries, or have Recourse to Prayers.

Prayers are said to be the Daughters of Jove, because it is he who teaches Man to pray. They are lame, because the Posture of a Suppliant is with his Knee on the Ground. They are wrinkled, because those that pray have a Countenance of Dejection and Sorrow. Their Eyes are turn'd aside, because thro' an awful Regard to Heaven they dare not lift them thi­ther. They follow Ate or Injury, because nothing but Prayers can attone for the Wrongs that are offer'd by the injurious. Ate is said to be strong and swift of Foot, &c. because inju­rious Men are swift to do Mischief. This is the Explanation of Eustathius, with whom Dacier agrees, but when she allows the Circumstance of Lameness to intimate the Custom of [Page 76] kneeling in Prayer, she forgets that this contradicts her own Assertion in one of the Remarks on Iliad 7. where she affirms that no such Custom was used by the Greeks. And indeed the contrary seems inferred in several Places of Homer, par­ticularly where Achilles says in the 608th Verse of the eleventh Book, The Greeks shall stand round his Knees supplicating to him. The Phrases in that Language that signify praying, are deriv'd from the Knee, only as it was usual to lay hold on the Knee of the Person to whom they supplicated.

A modern Author imagines Ate to signify divine Justice, a Notion in which he is single, and repugnant to all the My­thologists. Besides, the whole Context in this Place, and the very Application of the Allegory to the present Case of Achilles, whom he exhorts to be moved by Prayers notwith­standing the Injustice done him by Agamemnon, makes the con­trary evident.

LXIII.

‘VERSE 643. Not Greece, nor all her Fortunes.]’ Plato in the third Book of his Republick condemns this Passage, and thinks it very wrong, that Phoenix should say to Achilles that if they did not offer him great Presents, he would not advise him to be appeas'd; but I think there is some Injustice in this Censure, and that Plato has not rightly enter'd into the Sense of Phoenix, who does not look upon these Presents on the side of Interest, but Honour, as a Mark of Agamemnon's Repentance, and of the Satisfaction he is ready to make: wherefore he says, that Honour has a mighty Power over great Spirits. Dacier.

LXIV.

‘VERSE 648. Permit not these to sue, and sue in vain.]’ In the Original it is— [...].—I am pretty confident there is not any manner of speaking like this used throughout all Homer; nor two Substantives so odly coupled to a Verb, as [...] and [...] in this Place. We may indeed meet with such little Affectations in Ovid,—Aurigam [Page 77] puriter animaque, rotisque, Expulit—and the like; but the Taste of the Ancients in general was too good for these Foo­leries. I must have leave to think the Verse [...], &c. an Interpolation; the Sense is compleat without it, and the latter part of the Line, [...], seems but a Tautology, after what is said in the six Verses preceding.

LXV.

‘VERSE 649. Let me, my Son, an ancient Fact unfold.]’ Phoenix, says Eustathius, lays down, as the Foundation of his Story, that great Men in former Ages were always appeas'd by Presents and Entreaties, and to confirm this Position, he brings Meleager as an Instance; but it may be object­ed, that Meleager was an ill chosen Instance, being a Per­son whom no Entreaties could move: The Superstructure of this Story seems not to agree with the Foundation. Eu­stathius solves the Difficulty thus. Homer did not intend to give an Instance of a Hero's Compliance with the Entreaties of his Friends, but to shew that they who did not comply were Sufferers themselves in the End. So that the Connecti­on of the Story is thus; The Heroes of former Times were used always to be won by Presents and Entreaties; Meleager only was obstinate, and suffer'd because he was so.

The Length of this Narration cannot be taxed as unsea­sonable; it was at full Leisure in the Tent, and in the Night, a time of no Action. Yet I cannot answer but the Tale may be tedious to a modern Reader. I have translated it there­fore with all possible Shortness, as will appear upon a Com­parison. The Piece itself is very valuable, as it preserves to us a Part of ancient History that had otherwise been entirely lost, as Quintilian has remark'd. The same great Critick commends Homer's manner of relating it: Narrare quis sig­nificantius potest, quam qui Curetum Aetolorumque praelia ex­ponit, lib. 10. c. 1.

LXVI.

‘VERSE 677. Alcyone, a Name to show, &c.]’ It appears (says Madam Dacier) by this Passage, and by others already observ'd, that the Greeks often gave Names, as did the He­brews, not only with respect to the Circumstances, but like­wise to the Accidents which happen'd to the Fathers and Mothers of those they named: Thus Cleopatra is called Al­cyone, from the Lamentations of her Mother. I cannot but think this Digression concerning Idas and Marpessa too long, and not very much to the Purpose.

LXVII.

It is remarkakable with what Art Homer here in a few Words sums up the Miseries of a City taken by Assault.

It had been unpardonable for Cleopatra to have made a long Representation to Meleager of these Miseries, when every Mo­ment that kept him from the Battel could not be spared. It is also to be observed how perfectly the Features of Meleager resemble Achilles, they are both brave Men, ambitious of Glory, both of them describ'd as giving Victory to their se­veral Armies while they fought, and both of them implaca­ble in their Resentment. Eustathius.

LXVIII.

‘VERSE 718. Achilles's Answer to Phoenix.]’ The Character of Achilles is excellently sustain'd in all his Speeches: To U­lysses he returns a flat Denial, and threatens to leave the Tro­jan Shores in the Morning: To Phoenix he gives a much gentler Answer, and begins to mention Agamemnon with less Disrespect [...]: After Ajax had spoken, he seems determined not to depart, but yet refuses to bear Arms, till it is to defend his own Squadron. Thus Achilles's Character [Page 79] is every where of a Piece: He begins to yield, and not to have done so, would not have spoke him a Man; to have made him perfectly inexorable had shewn him a Monster. Thus the Poet draws the Heat of his Passion cooling by slow Degrees, which is very natural: To have done otherwise, had not been agreeable to Achilles's Temper, nor the Reader's Ex­pectation, to whom it would have been shocking to have seen him passing from the greatest Storm of Anger to a quiet Calmness. Eustathius.

LXIX.

‘VERSE 725. While Life's warm Spirit beats within my Breast.]’ Eustathius observes here with a great deal of Penetration, that these Words of Achilles include a sort of Oracle, which he does not understand: For it sometimes happens that Men full of their Objects say things, which besides the Sense na­tural and plain to every Body, include another supernatural, which they themselves do not understand, and which is un­derstood by those only who have Penetration enough to see thro' the Obscurity of it. Thus Oedipus often speaks in So­phocles; and holy Scripture furnishes us with great Examples of Enthusiastick Speeches, which have a double Sense. Here we manifestly see that Achilles in speaking a very simple and common thing, foretells without thinking of it, that his Abode on that fatal Shore will equal the Course of his Life, and consequently that he shall die there: and this double Meaning gives a sensible Pleasure to the Reader. Dacier.

LXX.

‘VERSE 742. The Speech of Ajax.]’ I have before spoken of this short Soldier-like Speech of Ajax; Dionysius of Ha­licarnassus says of it, ‘"that the Person who entreats most, and with most Liberty, who supplicates most, and presses most, is Ajax.’ It is probable that Ajax rises up when he speaks the word, Let us go. He does not vouchsafe to ad­dress himself to Achilles, but turns himself to Ulysses, and speaks with a martial Eloquence.

LXXI.

‘VERSE 751. The Price of Blood discharg'd.]’ It was the Cu­stom for the Murderer to go into Banishment one Year, but if the Relations of the Person murthered were willing, the Criminal by paying them a certain Fine, might buy off the Exile, and remain at home. (It may not be amiss to observe, that [...], quasi [...], properly signifies a Mulct paid for Mur­der.) Ajax sums up this Argument with a great deal of Strength: We see, says he, a Brother forgive the Murder of his Brother, a Father that of his Son. But Achilles will not forgive the Injury offer'd him by taking away one captive Woman. Eustathius.

LXXII.

‘VERSE 757. Revere the Roof, and to thy Guests be kind.]’ Eustathius says there is some Difficulty in the Original of this Place. Why should Ajax draw an Argument to influence A­chilles, by putting him in mind to reverence his own Habi­tation? The latter Part of the Verse explains the former: We, says Ajax, are under your Roof, and let that protect us from any ill Usage; send us not away from your House with Contempt, who came hither as Friends, as Supplicants, as Embassadors.

LXXIII.

‘VERSE 762. Well hast thon spoke, but at the Tyrant's Name My Rage rekindles.]’ We have here the true Picture of an an­gry Man, and nothing can be better imagin'd to heighten Achilles's Wrath; he owns that Reason would induce him to a Reconciliation, but his Anger is too great to listen to Rea­son. He speaks with respect to them, but upon mentioning Agamemnon, he flies into Rage: Anger is in nothing more like Madness, than that Madmen will talk sensibly enough upon any indifferent Matter; but upon the mention of the [Page 81] Subject that caused their Disorder, they fly out into their usual Extravagance.

LXXIV.

‘VERSE 811. Such was his Word.]’ It may be ask'd here why Ulysses speaks only of the Answer which Achilles made him at first, and says nothing of the Disposition to which the Discourses of Phoenix and Ajax had brought him. The Question is easily answer'd; it is because Achilles is obstinate in his Resentment; and that, if at length a little mov'd by Phoe­nix, and shaken by Ajax, he seem'd dispos'd to take Arms; it is not out of regard to the Greeks, but only to save his own Squadron, when Hector after having put the Greeks to the Sword, shall come to insult it. Thus this inflexible Man a­bates nothing of his Rage. It is therefore prudent in Ulysses to make this Report to Agamemnon, to the End that being put out of hopes of the Aid with which he flatter'd himself, he may concert with the Leaders of the Army the Measures necessary to save his Fleet and Troops. Eustathius.

LXXV.

‘VERSE 821. Why should we Gifts, &c.]’ This Speech is admirably adapted to the Character of Diomed, every word is animated with a martial Courage, and worthy to be deli­ver'd by a gallant Soldier. He advis'd fighting in the be­ginning of the Book, and continues still in that Opinion; and he is no more concern'd at the Speech of Achilles now, than he was at that of Agamemnon before.

I.

IT is observable, says Eustathius, that the Poet very art­fully repairs the Loss of the last Day by this nocturnal Stratagem; and it is plain that such a Contrivance was necessary: The Army was dispirited and Achilles in­flexible; but by the Success of this Adventure the Scale is turn'd in favour of the Grecians.

II.

‘VERSE 3. All but the King, &c.]’ Homer here with a very small Alteration repeats the Verses which begin the second Book: He introduces Agamemnon with the same Pomp as he did Jupiter; he ascribes to him the same Watchfulness over Men, as he exercis'd over the Gods, and Jove and Agamem­non are the only Persons awake, while Heaven and Earth are asleep. Eustathius.

III.

‘VERSE 7. Or sends soft Snows.]’ Scaliger's Criticism against this passage, that it never lightens and snows at the same time, is sufficiently refuted by Experience. See Bossu of the Epic Poem lib. 3. c. 7. and Barnes's Note on this Place.

IV.

‘VERSE 8. Or bids the brazen Throat of War to roar.]’ There is something very noble and sublime in this Image: The vast Jaws of War is an Expression that very poetically represents the Voraciousness of War, and gives us a lively Idea of an in­satiate Monster. Eustathius.

V.

‘VERSE 9. By fits one Flash succeeds, &c.]’ It requires some Skill in Homer to take the chief Point of his Similitudes; he has often been misunderstood in that respect, and his Com­parisons have frequently been strain'd to comply with the Fan­cies of Commentators. This Comparison which is brought to illustrate the Frequency of Agamemnon's Sighs, has been usually thought to represent in general the Groans of the King, whereas what Homer had in his view was only the quick Succession of them.

VI.

‘VERSE 13. Now o'er the Fields, &c.]’ Aristotle answers a Criticism of some Censurers of Homer on this Place. They asked how it was that Agamemnon, shut up in his Tent in the Night, could see the Trojan Camp at one view, and the Fleet at another, as the Poet represents it? It is (says Aristotle) only a metaphorical manner of Speech; To cast one's Eye, means but to reflect upon, or to revolve in one's Mind: and that em­ploy'd Agamemnon's Thoughts in his Tent, which had been the chief Object of his Eyes the Day before.

VII.

‘VERSE 19. He rends his Hairs in sacrifice to Jove.]’ I know this Action of Agamemnon has been taken only as a common Expression of Grief, and so indeed it was render'd by Accius, as cited by Tully, Tusc. quaest. l. 3. Scindens dolore identidem intonsam comam. But whoever reads the Context will, I be­lieve, be of Opinion, that Jupiter is mention'd here on no other Account than as he was apply'd to in the offering of these Hairs, in an humble Supplication to the offended Deity who had so lately manifested his Anger.

VIII.

‘VERSE 27. He rose, and first he cast his Mantle round.]’ I fancy it will be entertaining to the Reader to observe how well the Poet at all times suits the Descriptions to the Cir­cumstances of the Persons: We must remember that this Book continues the Actions of one Night; the whole Army is now asleep, and the Poet takes this Opportunity to give us a Description of several of his Heroes suitable to their proper Characters. Agamemnon who is every where describ'd as anxious for the Good of his People, is kept awake by a fatherly Care for their Preservation. Menelaus, for whose sake the Greeks had suffer'd so greatly, shares all their Mis­fortunes, and is restless while they are in danger. Nestor, a provident, wise old Man, sacrifices his Rest even in the Ex­tremity of Age, to his Love for his Country. Ulysses, a Per­son next to Nestor in Wisdom, is ready at the first Summons; he finds it hard, while the Greeks suffer, to compose him­self to Sleep, but is easily awak'd to march to its Defence: But Diomed, who is every where describ'd as a daring War­rior, sleeps unconcern'd at the Nearness of the Enemy, and is not awaked without some Violence: He is said to be asleep, but he sleeps like a Soldier in compleat Arms.

I could not pass over one Circumstance in this Place in Relation to Nestor. It is a Pleasure to see what Care the Poet takes of his favourite Councellor: He describes him ly­ing [Page 122] in a soft Bed, wraps him up in a warm Cloak, to preserve his Age from the Coldness of the Night; but Diomed, a gallant young Hero, sleeps upon the Ground in open Air; and indeed every Warrior is dress'd in Arms peculiar to that Season: The Hide of a Lion or Leopard is what they all put on, being not to engage an Enemy, but to meet their Friends in Council. Eustathius.

IX.

‘VERSE 43. Sends he some Spy? &c.]’ Menelaus in this Place starts a Design which is afterwards proposed by Nestor in Council; the Poet knew that the Project would come with greater Weight from the Age of the one, than from the Youth of the other: and that the Valiant would be ready to execute a Design, which so venerable a Counsellor had form'd. Eustathius.

X.

‘VERSE 57. Such wondrous Deeds as Hector's Hand, &c.]’ We hear Agamemnon in this Place launching into the Praises of a gallant Enemy; but if any one think that he raises the Actions of Hector too high, and sets him above Achilles him­self, this Objection will vanish if he considers that he com­mends him as the bravest of mere Men, but still he is not equal to Achilles who was descended from a Goddess. Aga­memnon undoubtedly had Achilles in his Thoughts when he says,

But his Anger will not let him even name the Man whom he thus obliquely praises.

Eustathius proceeds to observe, that the Poet ascribes the gallant Exploits of Hector to his Piety; and had he not been favour'd by Jove, he had not been thus victorious.

He also remarks that there is a double Tautology in this Speech of Agamemnon, as [...], and [Page 123] [...]. This proceeds from the Wonder which the King endeavours to express at the Greatness of Hector's Actions: He labours to make his Words answer the great Idea he had conceiv'd of them, and while his Mind dwells upon the same Object, he falls into the same manner of expressing it. This is very natural to a Person in his Circumstances, whose Thoughts are as it were pent up, and struggle for an Utterance.

XI.

‘VERSE 73. The Paths so many, &c.]’ 'Tis plain from this Verse, as well as from many others, that the Art of For­tification was in some degree of Perfection in Homer's Days: Here are Lines drawn that traverse the Camp ev'ry way; the Ships are drawn up in the manner of a Rampart, and sally Ports made at proper Distances, that they might with­out Difficulty either retire or issue out, as the Occasion should require. Eustathius.

XII.

‘VERSE 92. Seek'st thou some Friend or nightly Centinel?]’ It has been thought that Nestor asks this Question upon the Ac­count of his Son Thrasymedes, who commanded the Guard that Night. He seems to be under some Apprehension lest he should have remitted the Watch. And it may also be gather'd from this Passage, that in those Times the Use of the Watch-word was unknown; because Nestor is oblig'd to crowd several Questions together, before he can learn whether Aga­memnon be a Friend or an Enemy. The Shortness of the Questions agrees admirably with the Occasion upon which they were made; it being necessary that Nestor should be im­mediately inform'd who he was who pass'd along the Camp: If a Spy, that he might stand upon his Guard; if a Friend, that he might not cause an Alarm to be given to the Army, by multiplying Questions. Eustathius.

XIII.

‘VERSE 96. Lo here the wretched Agamemnon stands.]’ Eu­stathius observes, that Agamemnon here paints his Distress in a very pathetical manner: while the meanest Soldier is at rest, the General wanders about disconsolate, and is supe­rior now in nothing so much as in Sorrow; but this Sorrow proceeds not from a base abject Spirit, but from a generous Disposition; he is not anxious for the Loss of his own Glory, but for the Sufferings of his People: It is a noble Sorrow, and springs from a commendable Tenderness and Humanity.

XIV.

‘VERSE 138. My gen'rous Brother is of gentle Kind.]’ Aga­memnon is every where represented as the greatest Example of brotherly Affection; and he at all times defends Menelaus, but never with more Address than now: Nestor had accus'd Menelaus of Sloath; the King is his Advocate, but pleads his Excuse only in part: He does not entirely acquit him, be­cause he would not contradict so wise a Man as Nestor; nor does he condemn him, because his Brother at this time was not guilty; but he very artfully turns the Imputation of Ne­stor, to the Praise of Menelaus; and affirms, that what might seem to be Remissness in his Character was only a Deference to his Authority, and that his seeming Inactivity was but an Unwillingness to act without Command. Eu­stathius.

XV.

‘VERSE 174. A Wood of Spears stood by, &c.]’ The Picture here given us of Diomed sleeping in his Arms, with his Sol­diers about him, and the Spears sticking upright in the Earth, has a near Resemblance to that in the first Book of Samuel, Ch. 26. ℣. 7. Saul lay sleeping within the Trench, and his Spear stuck in the Ground at his Bolster, but Abner and the Peo­ple lay round about him.

XVI.

‘VERSE 182. From yon' Hill the Foe, &c.]’ It is necessary, if we would form an exact Idea of the Battels of Homer, to carry in our Minds the Place where each Action was fought. It will therefore be proper to enquire where that Eminence stood, upon which the Trojans encamp'd this Night. Eu­stathius is inclinable to believe it was Callicolone, (the Situation of which you will find in the Map of Homer's Battels) but it will appear from what Dolon says, ℣. 415. (of Hector's being encamp'd at the Monument of Ilus) that this Eminence must be the Tumulus on which that Monument was situate, and so the old Scholiast rightly explains it.

XVII.

‘VERSE 194. But now the last Despair surrounds our Host.]’ The different Behaviour of Nestor upon the same Occasion, to different Persons, is worthy Observation: Agamemnon was under a Concern and Dejection of Spirit from the Danger of his Army: To raise his Courage, Nestor gave him hopes of Success, and represented the State of Affairs in the most favou­rable view. But he applies himself to Diomed, who is at all times enterprizing and incapable of Despair, in a far diffe­rent manner: He turns the darkest side to him, and gives the worst Prospect of their Condition. This Conduct (says Eustathius) shews a great deal of Prudence: 'tis the Province of Wisdom to encourage the dishearten'd with hopes, and to qualify the forward Courage of the daring with Fears; that the Valour of the one may not sink thro' Despair, nor that of the other fly out into Rashness.

XVIII.

‘VERSE 207. And now the Chiefs approach the nightly Guard.]’ It is usual in Poetry to pass over little Circumstances, and carry on the greater. Menelaus in this Book was sent to [Page 126] call some of the Leaders; the Poet has too much Judgment to dwell upon the trivial Particulars of his performing his Message, but lets us know by the Sequel that he had per­formed it. It would have clogg'd the poetical Narration to have told us how Menelaus waked the Heroes to whom he was dispatched, and had been but a Repetition of what the Poet had fully describ'd before: He therefore (says the same Author) drops these Particularities, and leaves them to be supply'd by the Imagination of the Reader. 'Tis so in Painting, the Painter does not always draw at the full length, but leaves what is wanting to be added by the Fancy of the Beholder.

XIX.

‘VERSE 211. So faithful Dogs, &c.]’ This Simile is in all its Parts just to the Description it is meant to illustrate. The Dogs represent the Watch, the Flock the Greeks, the Fold their Camp, and the wild Beast that invades them, Hector. The Place, Posture, and Circumstance, are painted with the utmost Life and Nature.

Eustathius takes notice of one Particular in this Descripti­on, which shews the manner in which their Centinels kept the Guard. The Poet tells us, that they sate down with their Arms in their Hands. I think that this was not so prudent a Method as is now used; it being almost impossible for a Man that stands, to drop asleep, whereas one that is seated may easily be overpower'd by the Fatigue of a long Watch. Eustathius.

XX.

‘VERSE 228. Then o'er the Trench the following Princes led]’ The Reason why Nestor did not open the Council within the Trenches, was with a design to encourage the Guards, and those whom he intended to send to enter the Trojan Camp. It would have appear'd unreasonable to send others over the En­trenchments upon a hazardous Enterprize, and not to have dared himself to set a Foot beyond them. This also could [Page 127] not fail of inflaming the Courage of the Grecian Spies, who would know themselves not to be far from Assistance, while so many of the Princes were passed over the Ditch as well as they. Eustathius.

XXI.

‘VERSE 241. Is there (he said) a Chief so greatly brave?]’ Nestor proposes his Design of sending Spies into the Trojan Army with a great deal of Address: He begins with a general Sentence, and will not choose any one Hero, for fear of dis­gusting the rest: Had Nestor named the Person, he would have paid him a Complement that was sure to be attended with the Hazard of his Life; and that Person might have be­liev'd that Nestor exposed him to a Danger, which his Honour would not let him decline; while the rest might have resented such a Partiality, which would have seem'd to give the Preference to another before them. It therefore was Wisdom in Nestor to propose the Design in general Terms, whereby all the gallant Men that offer'd themselves satisfy'd their Honour, by being willing to share the Danger with Diomed; and it was no Disgrace to be left behind, after they had offer'd to ha­zard their Lives for their Country. Eustathius.

XXII.

‘VERSE 244. Or seize some straggling Foe?]’ It is worthy Observation with how much Caution Nestor opens this Design, and with how much Courage Diomed accepts it. Nestor forms it with Coolness, but Diomed embraces it with Warmth and Resolution. Nestor only proposes that some Man would approach the Enemy and intercept some straggling Trojan, but Diomed offers to penetrate the very Camp. Nestor was afraid lest no one should undertake it: Diomed overlooks the Danger, and presents himself, as willing to march against the whole Army of Troy. Eustathius.

XXIII.

‘VERSE 280. To Birth or Office no respect be paid.]’ Eusta­thius remarks that Agamemnon artfully steals away his Brother from Danger; the Foundness he bears to him makes him think him unequal to so bold an Enterprize, and prefer his Safety to his Glory. He farther adds, that the Poet intended to condemn that faulty Modesty which makes one sometimes prefer a Nobleman before a Person of more real Worth. To be greatly born is an Happiness, but no Merit; whereas personal Virtues shew a Man worthy of that Greatness to which he is not born.

It appears from hence, how honourable it was of old to go upon these Parties by Night, or undertake those Offices which are now only the Task of common Soldiers. Gideon in the Book of Judges (as Dacier observes) goes as a Spy in­to the Camp of Midian, tho' he was at that time General of the Israelites.

XXIV.

‘VERSE 288. Blest in his Conduct.]’ There requir'd some Address in Diomed to make his Choice without offending the Grecian Princes; each of them might think it an Indignity to be refus'd such a Place of Honour. Diomed therefore chuses Ulysses not because he is braver than the rest, but be­cause he is wiser. This part of his Character was allow'd by all the Leaders of the Army; and none of them thought it a Disparagement to themselves as they were Men of Valour, to see the first Place given to Ulysses in Point of Wisdom. No doubt but the Poet by causing Diomed to make this Choice, intended to insinuate that Valour ought always to be temper'd with Wisdom; to the end that what is design'd with Pru­dence, may be executed with Resolution. Eustathius.

XXV.

‘VERSE 290. It fits thee not to praise me or to blame.]’ The Modesty of Ulysses in this Passage is very remarkable; tho' undoubtedly he deserved to be praised, yet he interrupts Diomed rather than he would be a Hearer of his own Commendation. What Diomed spoke in Praise of Ulysses, was utter'd to ju­stify his Choice of him to the Leaders of the Army; other­wise the Praise he had given him, would have been no better than Flattery. Eustathius.

XXVI.

It has been objected that Ulysses is guilty of a threefold Tau­tology, when every word he utter'd shews the Necessity of being concise: If the Night was nigh spent, there was the less time to lose in Tautologies. But this is so far from being a fault, that it is a Beauty: Ulysses dwells upon the Shortness of the time before the Day appears, in order to urge Diomed to the greater Speed in prosecuting the Design. Eustathius.

XXVII.

‘VERSE 297. But a third remains.]’ One ought to take no­tice with how much Exactness Homer proportions his Inci­dents to the time of Action: These two Books take up no more than the Compass of one Night; and this Design could not have been executed in any other Part of it. The Poet had before told us, that all the Plain was enlightned by the Fires of Troy, and consequently no Spy could pass over to their Camp, till they were almost sunk and extinguish'd, which could not be till near the Morning.

'Tis observable that the Poet divides the Night into three Parts, from whence we may gather, that the Grecians had [Page 130] three Watches during the Night: The first and second of which were over, when Diomed and Ulysses set out to enter the Enemy's Camp. Eustathius.

XXVIII.

‘VERSE 300. A two-edg'd Faulchion Thrasymed the brave, &c.]’ It is a very impertinent Remark of Scaliger, that Diomed should not have gone from his Tent without a Sword. The Expe­dition he now goes upon could not be foreseen by him at the time he rose: He was awak'd of a sudden, and sent in haste to call some of the Princes: Besides, he went but to Coun­cil, and even then carry'd his Spear with him, as Homer had already inform'd us. I think if one were to study the Art of cavilling, there would be more occasion to blame Virgil for what Scaliger praises him, giving a Sword to Euryalus when he had one before, Aen. 9. ℣. 303.

XXIX.

‘VERSE 302. Then in a Leathern Helm.]’ It may not be improper to observe how conformably to the Design the Poet arms these two Heroes: Ulysses has a Bow and Arrows, that he might be able to wound the Enemy at a distance, and so retard his Flight till he could overtake him; and for fear of a Discovery, Diomed is arm'd with an Helmet of Leather, that the glittering of it might not betray him. Eustathius.

There is some Resemblance in this whole Story to that of Nisus and Euryalus in Virgil: and as the Heroes are here successful, and in Virgil unfortunate, it was perhaps as great an Instance of Virgil's Judgment to describe the unhappy Youth in a glittering Helmet, which occasion'd his Disco­very, as it was in Homer to arm his successful one in the contrary manner.

XXX.

‘VERSE 309. A well-prov'd Casque.]’ Mr. Barnes has a pretty Remark on this Place, that it was probably from this [Page 131] Description, [...], that the ancient Painters and Tra­gic Poets constantly represented Ulysses with the Pileus on his Head; but this Particularity could not be preserved with any Grace in the Translation.

XXXI.

‘VERSE 312. This from Amyntor, &c.]’ The Succession of this Helmet descending from one Hero to another, is imita­ted by Virgil in the Story of Nisus and Euryalus..

It was anciently a Custom to make these military Presents to brave Adventurers. So Jonathan in the first Book of Samuel, stript himself of the Robe that was upon him, and gave it to David; and his Garments, even to his Sword, and his Bow, and his Girdle. Ch. 18. ℣. 4.

XXXII.

‘VERSE 325. Ulysses hail'd the glad Omen.]’ This Passage sufficiently justifies Diomed for his Choice of Ulysses: Diomed, who was most renown'd for Valour, might have given a wrong Interpretation to this Omen, and so have been discourag'd from proceeding in the Attempt. For tho' it really signify'd, that as the Bird was not seen, but only heard by the Sound of its Wings, so they should not be discover'd by the Trojans, but perform Actions which all Troy should hear with Sorrow; yet on the other hand it might imply, that as they disco­vered the Bird by the Noise of its Wings, so they should be betray'd by the Noise they should make in the Trojan Ar­my. The Reason why Pallas does not send the Bird that is sacred to her self, but the Heron, is because it is a Bird of [Page 132] Prey, and denoted that they should spoil the Trojans. Eu­stathius.

XXXIII.

‘VERSE 355. Thro' Dust, thro' Blood, &c.]’ Zenophon has imitated this Passage; but what the Poet gives us in one Line, the Historian portracts into several Sentences. ‘ [...], &c.’ ‘"When the Battel was over, one might behold the Ground dy'd red with Blood, and cover'd with the Dead; Spears broken, and drawn Swords, some on the Ground, some in the Bodies of the slain.’ Eustathius.

XXXIV.

‘VERSE 356. Nor less bold Hector, &c.]’ It is the Remark of Eustathius, that Homer sends out the Trojan Spy in this Place in a very different manner from the Grecian ones be­fore. Having been very particular in describing the Counsel of the Greeks, he avoids tiring the Reader here with parallel Circumstances, and passes it in general Terms. In the first, a wise old Man proposes the Adventure with an Air of Deference; in the second, a brave young Man with an Air of Authority. The one promises a small Gift, but very honourable and certain; the other a great one, but uncertain and less honourable, be­cause 'tis given as a Reward. So that Diomed and Ulysses are inspired with the Love of Glory, Dolon is possest with a Thirst of Gain: They proceed with a sage and circumspect Valour, he with Rashness and Vanity; they go in Conjunction, he alone; they cross the Fields out of the Road, he follows the common Track. In all this there is a Contraste that is ad­mirable, and a Moral that strikes every Reader at first Sight.

XXXV.

‘VERSE 370. Dolon his Name.]’ 'Tis scarce to be conceiv'd with what Conciseness the Poet has here given us the Name, the Fortunes, the Pedigree, the Office, the Shape, the Swift­ness [Page 133] of Dolon. He seems to have been eminent for nothing so much as for his Wealth, tho' undoubtedly he was by Place one of the first Rank in Troy: Hector summons him to this Assembly amongst the Chiefs of Troy; nor was he un­known to the Greeks, for Diomed immediately after he had seiz'd him, calls him by his Name. Perhaps being an He­rald, he had frequently pass'd between the Armies in the Ex­ecution of his Office.

The Ancients observ'd upon this Place, that it was the Of­fice of Dolon which made him offer himself to Hector. The Sacred Character gave him hopes that they would not violate his Person, should he happen to be taken; and his Riches he knew were sufficient to purchase his Liberty; be­sides all which Advantages, he had hopes from his Swiftness to escape any Pursuers. Eustathius.

XXXVI.

‘VERSE 374. Not blest by Nature with the Charms of Face.]’ The Original is,

Which some ancient Criticks thought to include a Contradi­ction, because the Man who is ill-shap'd can hardly be swift in running; taking the word [...] as apply'd in general to the Air of the whole Person. But Aristotle acquaints us that word was as proper in regard to the Face only, and that it was usual with the Cretans to call a Man with a handsome Face, [...]. So that Dolon might want a good Face, and yet be well-shap'd enough to make an excellent Racer. Poet. c. 26.

XXXVII.

‘VERSE 379. Swear to grant me, &c.]’ It is evident from this whole Narration, that Dolon as a Man of no Worth or Courage; his Covetousness seems to be the sole Motive of his undertaking this Exploit: and whereas Diomed neither desir'd any Reward, nor when promis'd, requir'd any Assurance of [Page 134] it; Dolon demands an Oath, and will not trust the Promise of Hector; he every where discovers a base Spirit, and by the Sequel it will appear, that this vain Boaster instead of discovering the Army of the Enemy, becomes a Traytor to his own. Eustathius.

XXXVIII.

‘VERSE 380. Th' immortal Coursers, and the glitt'ring Car.]’ Hector in the foregoing Speech promises the best Horses in the Grecian Army, as a Reward to any one who would un­dertake what he propos'd. Dolon immediately demands those of Achilles, and confines the general Promise of Hector to the particular Horses of that brave Hero.

There is something very extraordinary in Hector's taking a solemn Oath, that he will give the Chariots and Steeds of Achilles to Dolon. The Ancients, says Eustathius, knew not whose Vanity most to wonder at, that of Dolon, or Hector; the one for demanding this, or the other for promising it. Tho' we may take notice, that Virgil lik'd this Extravagance so well as to imitate it, where Ascanius (without being asked) promises the Horses and Armour of Turnus to Nisus, on his undertaking a like Enterprize.

Unless one should think the Rashness of such a Promise bet­ter agreed with the Ardour of this youthful Prince, than with the Character of an experienc'd Warrior like Hector.

XXXIX.

‘VERSE 420.—Such the Space between As when two Teams of Mules, &c.]’ I wonder Eustathius takes no notice of the manner of Ploughing used by the Ancients, which is describ'd in these Verses, and of which we have the best Account from Dacier. She is not satisfied with the Explanation given by [Page 135] Didymus, that Homer meant the Space which Mules by their Swiftness gain upon Oxen that plow in the same Field. ‘"The Grecians (says she) did not plow in the manner now in use. They first broke up the Ground with Oxen, and then plow'd it more lightly with Mules. When they em­ployed two Plows in a Field, they measured the Space they could Plow in a Day, and set their Plows at the two ends of that Space, and those Plows proceeded toward each o­ther. This intermediate Space was constantly fix'd, but less in Proportion for two Plows of Oxen than for two of Mules; because Oxen are slower and toil more in a Field that has not been yet turn'd up, whereas Mules are natu­rally swifter, and make greater speed in a Ground that has already had the first Plowing. I therefore believe that what Homer calls [...], is the Space left by the Husband­men between two Plows of Mules which till the same Field: And as this Space was so much the greater in a Field al­ready plow'd by Oxen, he adds what he says of Mules, that they are swifter and fitter to give the second Plowing than Oxen, and therefore distinguishes the Field so plowed by the Epithet of deep, [...]: For that Space was certain, of so many Acres or Perches, and always larger than in a Field as yet untill'd, which being heavier and more difficult, requir'd the Interval to be so much the less between two Plows of Oxen, because they could not dis­patch so much Work. Homer could not have serv'd him­self of a juster Comparison for a thing that pass'd in the Fields; at the same time he shews his Experience in the Art of Agriculture, and gives his Verses a most agreeable Ornament, as indeed all the Images drawn from this Art are peculiarly entertaining.’

This manner of measuring a Space of Ground by a Com­parison from Plowing, seems to have been customary in those times, from that Passage in the first Book of Samuel, Ch. 14. ℣. 14. And the first Slaughter which Jonathan and his Armour-bearer made, was about twenty Men, within as it were half a Furrow of an Acre of Land, which a Yoke of Oxen might plow.

XL.

‘VERSE 444. Quiver'd as he stood, &c.]’ The Poet here gives us a very lively Picture of a Person in the utmost Ago­nies of Fear: Dolon's Swiftness forsakes him, and he stands shackled by his Cowardice. The very Words express the thing he describes by the broken Turn of the Greek Verses. And something like it is aimed at in the English.

XLI.

‘VERSE 454. Be bold, nor fear to die.]’ 'Tis observable what Caution the Poet here uses in reference to Dolon: Ulysses does not make him any Promises of Life, but only bids him very artfully not to think of dying: So that when Diomed kills him, he was not guilty of a Breach of Promise, and the Spy was deceiv'd rather by the Art and Subtlety of Ulysses, than by his Falshood. Dolon's Understanding seems entirely to be disturb'd by his Fears; he was so cautious as not to believe a Friend just before without an Oath, but here he trusts an E­nemy without so much as a Promise. Eustathius.

XLII.

‘VERSE 467. Urg'd me unwilling.]’ 'Tis observable that the Cowardice of Dolon here betrays him into a Falshood: Tho' Eustathius is of Opinion that the word in the Original means no more than contrary to my Judgment.

XLIII.

‘VERSE 477. Where lies encamp'd.]’ The Night was now very far advanc'd, the Morning approach'd, and the two Heroes had their whole Design still to execute: Ulysses therefore [Page 137] complies with the Necessity of the Time, and makes his Questions very short, tho' at the same time very full. In the like manner when Ulysses comes to shew Diomed the Chariot of Rhesus, he uses a sudden Transition without the usual Form of speaking.

XLIV.

‘VERSE 488. No certain Guards.]’ Homer to give an Air of Probability to this Narration, lets us understand that the Trojan Camp might easily be enter'd without a Discovery, be­cause there were no Centinels to guard it. This might hap­pen partly thro' the Security which their late Success had thrown them into, and partly thro' the Fatigues of the for­mer Day. Besides which, Homer gives us another very na­tural Reason, the Negligence of the auxiliar Forces, who be­ing Foreigners, had nothing to lose by the Fall of Troy.

XLV.

‘VERSE 489. Where e'er yon Fires ascend.]’ This is not to be understood of those Fires which Hector commanded to be kindled at the beginning of this Night, but only of the houshold Fires of the Trojans, distinct from the Auxiliars. The Expression in the Original is somewhat remarkable; but implies those People that were Natives of Troy; [...] and [...] signifying the same thing. So that [...] and [...] mean to have Houses or Hearths in Troy. Eu­stathius.

XLVI.

‘VERSE 525. Divides the Neck.]’ It may seem a Piece of Barbarity in Diomed to kill Dolon thus, in the very Act of supplicating for Mercy. Eustathius answers, that it was very necessary that it should be so, for fear, if he had defer'd his Death, he might have cry'd out to the Trojans, who hear­ing his Voice, would have been upon their guard.

XLVII.

‘VERSE 578. Just then a deathful Dream Minerva sent.]’ All the Circumstances of this Action, the Night, Rhesus bu­ried in a profound Sleep, and Diomed with the Sword in his Hand hanging over the Head of that Prince, furnish'd Ho­mer with the Idea of this Fiction, which represents Rhesus dy­ing fast asleep, and as it were beholding his Enemy in a Dream plunging a Sword into his Bosom. This Image is very na­tural, for a Man in this Condition awakes no farther than to see confusedly what environs him, and to think it not a Re­ality, but a Vision. Eustathius, Dacier.

XLVIII.

‘VERSE 607. And wakes Hippocoon.]’ Apollo's waking the Trojans is only an Allegory to imply that the Light of the Morning awaken'd them. Eustathius.

XLIX.

‘VERSE 624. Old Nestor first perceiv'd, &c.]’ It may with an Appearance of Reason be ask'd, whence it could be that Nestor, whose Sense of hearing might be suppos'd to be im­pair'd by his great Age, should be the first Person among so many youthful Warriors who hears the Tread of the Horse's Feet at a distance? Eustathius answers, that Nestor had a particular Concern for the Safety of Diomed and Ulysses on this Occasion, as he was the Person who, by proposing the Undertaking, had exposed them to a very signal Danger: and consequently his extraordinary Care for their Preservation, did more than supply the Disadvantage of his Age. This agrees very well with what immediately follows; for the old Man breaks out into a Transport at the Sight of them, and in a wild sort of Joy asks some Questions, which could not have proceeded from him, but while he was under that happy Surprize. Eustathius.

L.

‘VERSE 656. Of Thracian Lineage, &c.]’ It is observable, says Eustathius, that Homer in this Place unravels the Series of this Night's Exploits, and inverts the Order of the former Narration. This is partly occasion'd by a Necessity of Ne­stor's Enquiries, and partly to relate the same thing in a diffe­way, that he might not tire the Reader with an exact Repe­tition of what he knew before.

LI.

‘VERSE 659. And twelve beside, &c.]’ How comes it to pass that the Poet should here call Dolon the thirteenth that was slain, whereas he had already number'd up thirteen be­sides him? Eustathius answers, that he mentions Rhesus by himself, by way of Eminence. Then coming to recount the Thracians, he reckons twelve of 'em; so that taking Rhesus separately, Dolon will make the thirteenth.

LII.

‘VERSE 674. They cleanse their Bodies in the Main, &c.]’ We have here a Regimen very agreeable to the Simplicity and Austerity of the old heroic Times. These Warriors plunge into the Sea to wash themselves; for the salt Water is not on­ly more purifying than any other, but more corroborates the Nerves. They afterwards enter into a Bath, and rub their Bodies with Oil, which by softening and moistening the Flesh prevents too great a Dissipation, and restores the natural Strength. Eustathius.

LIII.

‘VERSE 677. In due Repast, &c.]’ It appears from hence with what Preciseness Homer distinguishes the Time of these Actions. 'Tis evident from this Passage, that immediately [Page 140] after their Return, it was Day-light; that being the Time of taking such a Repast as is here describ'd.

LIV.

I cannot conclude the Notes to this Book without obser­ving, that what seems the principal Beauty of it, and what distinguishes it among all the others, is the Liveliness of its Paintings: The Reader sees the most natural Night-Scene in the World; he is led step by step with the Adventurers, and made the Companion of all their Expectations, and Uncertain­ties. We see the very Colour of the Sky, know the Time to a Minute, are impatient while the Heroes are arming, our Imagination steals out after them, becomes privy to all their Doubts, and even to the secret Wishes of their Hearts sent up to Minerva. We are alarmed at the Approach of Dolon, hear his very Footsteps, assist the two Chiefs in pursuing him, and stop just with the Spear that arrests him. We are per­fectly acquainted with the Situation of all the Forces, with the Figure in which they lie, with the Disposition of Rhesus and the Thracians, with the Posture of his Chariot and Horses. The marshy Spot of Ground where Dolon is killed, the Ta­marisk, or aquatic Plants upon which they hang his Spoils, and the Reeds that are heap'd together to mark the Place, are Circumstances the most Picturesque imaginable. And tho' it must be owned, that the human Figures in this Piece are excellent, and disposed in the properest Actions; I cannot but confess my Opinion, that the chief Beauty of it is in the Prospect, a finer than which was never drawn by any Pencil.

I.

AS Homer's Invention is in nothing more wonderful than in the great Variety of Characters with which his Poems are diversify'd, so his Judgment appears in nothing more exact, than in that Propriety with which each Character is maintain'd. But this Exactness must be collected by a diligent Attention to his Conduct thro' the whole: and when the Particulars of each Character are laid together, we shall find them all proceeding from the same Temper and Disposition of the Person. If this Observation be neglected, the Poet's Conduct will lose much of its true Beauty and Harmony.

I fancy it will not be unpleasant to the Reader, to consider the Picture of Agamemnon drawn by so masterly an Hand as that of Homer in its full length, after having seen him in several Views and Lights since the beginning of the Poem.

He is a Master of Policy and Stratagem, and maintains a good Understanding with his Council; which was but necessary considering how many different and independent Nations and Interests he had to manage: He seems fully conscious of his own superior Authority, and always knows the time when to exert it: He is personally very valiant, but not without some Mixture of Fierceness: Highly resentful of the Injuries done [Page 192] his Family, even more than Menelaus himself: Warm both in his Passions and Affections, particularly in the Love he bears his Brother. In short, he is (as Homer himself in ano­ther Place describes him) both a good King, and a great Warrior.

It is very observable how this Hero rises in the Eye and E­steem of the Reader as the Poem advances: It opens with many Circumstances very much to the Disadvantage of his Character; he insults the Priest of Apollo, and outrages Achilles: but in the second Book he grows sensible of the Ef­fects of his Rashness, and takes the Fault entirely upon him­self: In the fourth he shews himself a skilful Commander, by exhorting, reproving and performing all the Offices of a good General: In the eighth he is deeply touch'd by the Sufferings of his Army, and makes all the Peoples Calamities his own: In the ninth he endeavours to reconcile himself to Achilles, and condescends to be the Petitioner, because it is for the publick Good: In the tenth, finding those Endea­vours ineffectual, his Concern keeps him the whole Night awake, in contriving all possible Methods to assist them: And now in the eleventh as it were resolving himself to supply the want of Achilles, he grows prodigiously in his Valour, and performs Wonders in his single Person.

Thus we see Agamemnon continually winning upon our E­steem, as we grow acquainted with him; so that he seems to be like that Goddess the Poet describes, who was low at the first, but rising by degrees, at last reaches the very Heavens.

II.

‘VERSE 5. When baleful Eris, &c.]’ With what a wonder­ful Sublimity does the Poet begin this Book? He awakens the Reader's Curiosity, and sounds an Alarm to the approach­ing Battel. With what Magnificence does he usher in the Deeds of Agamemnon: He seems for a while to have lost all [Page 193] view of the main Battel, and lets the whole Action of the Po|'em stand still, to attend the Motions of this single Hero. Instead of an Herald, he brings down a Goddess to inflame the Army; instead of a Trumpet or such warlike Musick, Juno and Minerva thunder over the Field of Battel: Jove rains down Drops of Blood, and averts his Eyes from such a Scene of Horrors.

By the Goddess Eris is meant that Ardour and Impatience for the Battel which now inspir'd the Grecian Army: They who just before were almost in Despair, now burn for the Fight, and breath nothing but War. Eustathius.

III.

‘VERSE 14. Orthian Song.]’ This is a kind of an Odaic Song, invented and sung on purpose to fire the Soul to noble Deeds in War. Such was that of Timotheus before Alexander the Great, which had such an Influence upon him, that he leap'd from his Seat and laid hold on his Arms. Eu­stathius.

IV.

‘VERSE 26. King Cinyras.]’ 'Tis probable this Passage of Cinyras King of Cyprus alludes to a true History; and what makes it the more so, is that this Island was famous for its Mines of several Metals. Eustathius.

V.

‘VERSE 35. Arching bow'd, &c.]’ Eustathius observes, that the Poet intended to represent the bending Figure of these Serpents, as well as their Colour, by comparing them to Rainbows. Dacier observes here how close a Parallel this Pas­sage of Homer bears to that in Genesis, where God tells Noah, I have set my Bow in the Clouds, that it may be for a Sign of the Covenant between me and the Earth.

VI.

‘VERSE 63. The Foot, and those who wield The lighter Arms, rush forward.]’ Here we see the Order of Battel is inverted, and opposite to that which Nestor proposed in the fourth Book: For it is the Cavalry which is there sustain'd by the Infantry; here the Infantry by the Cavalry. But to deliver my Opinion, I believe it was the Nearness of the Enemy that obliged Agamemnon to change the Disposition of the Battel: He would break their Battalions with his Infantry, and com­plete their Defeat by his Cavalry, which should fall upon the Flyers. Dacier.

VII.

‘VERSE 70. Red Drops of Blood.]’ These Prodigies with which Homer embellishes his Poetry, are the same with those which History relates not as Ornaments, but as Truths. Nothing is more common in History than Showers of Blood, and Philosophy gives us the Reason of them: The two Battels which had been fought on the Plains of Troy, had so drench'd them with Blood, that a great Quantity of it might be ex­hal'd in Vapours and carry'd into the Air, and being there condens'd, fall down again in Dews and Drops of the same Colour. Eustathius.

VIII.

‘VERSE 83. As the red Star.]’ We have just seen at full length the Picture of the General of the Greeks: Here we see Hector beautifully drawn in Miniature. This pro­ceeded from the great Judgment of the Poet: 'twas necessa­ry to speak fully of Agamemnon, who was to be the chief He­ro of this Battel, and briefly of Hector, who had so often been spoken of at large before. This is an Instance that the Poet well knew when to be concise, and when to be copi­ous. It is impossible that any thing should be more happily imagin'd than this Similitude: It is so lively, that we see Hector [Page 195] sometimes shining in Arms at the Head of his Troops: and then immediately lose Sight of him, while he retires in the Ranks of the Army. Eustathius.

IX.

‘VERSE 89. As sweating Reapers.]’ 'Twill be necessary for the understanding of this Similitude, to explain the Method of Mowing in Homer's Days: They mowed in the same man­ner as they plowed, beginning at the Extremes of the Field, which was equally divided, and proceeding till they met in the middle of it. By this means they rais'd an Emulati­on between both Parties, which should finish their Share first. If we consider this Custom, we shall find it a very happy Com­parison to the two Armies advancing against each other, to­gether with an exact Resemblance in every Circumstance the Poet intended to illustrate.

X.

‘VERSE 119. What time in some sequester'd Vale The weary Woodman, &c.]’ One may gather from hence, that in Ho­mer's Time they did not measure the Day by Hours, but by the Progression of the Sun; and distinguish'd the Parts of it by the most noted Employments; as in the 12 of the Odysseis, ℣. 439. from the rising of the Judges, and here from the dining of the Labourer.

It may perhaps be entertaining to the Reader to see a ge­neral Account of the Mensuration of Time among the Anci­ents, which I shall take from Spondanus. At the beginning of the World it is certain there was no Distinction of Time but by the Light and Darkness, and the whole Day was included in the general Terms of the Evening and the Morning. Mun­ster makes a pretty Observation upon this Custom: Our long­liv'd Forefathers (says he) had not so much occasion to be exact Observers how the Day pass'd, as their frailer Sons, whose Shortness of Life makes it necessary to distinguish every Part of Time, and suffer none of it to slip away without their Ob­servation.

[Page 196] It is not improbable but that the Chaldaeans, many Ages after the Flood, were the first who divided the Day into Hours; they being the first who applied themselves with any Success to Astrology. The most ancient Sun-dial we read of is that of Achaz, mention'd in the second Book of Kings, Ch. 20. about the Time of the building of Rome: But as these were of no use on clouded Days and in the Night; there was another Invention of measuring the Parts of Time by Water; but that not being sufficiently exact, they laid it a­side for another by Sand.

'Tis certain the Use of Dials was earlier among the Greeks than the Romans; 'twas above three hundred Years after the building of Rome before they knew any thing of them: But yet they had divided the Day and Night into twenty four Hours, as appears from Varro and Macrobius, tho' they did not count the Hours as we do, numerically, but from Midnight to Mid­night, and distinguish'd them by particular Names, as by the Cock crowing, the Dawn, the Midday, &c. The first Sun-dial we read of among the Romans which divided the Day into Hours, is mention'd by Pliny, lib. 1. cap. 20. fixt upon the Temple of Quirinus by L. Papyrius the Censor, about the 12th Year of the Wars with Pyrrhus. But the first that was of any Use to the Publick was set up near the Rostra in the Forum by Valerius Messala the Consul, after the taking of Catana in Sicily; from whence it was brought thirty Years after the first had been set up by Papyrius; but this was still an imper­fect one, the Lines of it not exactly corresponding with the several Hours. Yet they made use of it many Years, till Q. Marcius Philippus placed another by it greatly improved: but these had still one common Defect of being useless in the Night, and when the Skies were overcast. All these In­ventions being thus ineffectual, Scipio Nasica some Years af­terwards measur'd the Day and Night into Hours from the dropping of Water.

Yet near this time, it may be gather'd that Sun-dials were very frequent in Rome, from a Fragment preserv'd by Aulus Gellius and ascrib'd to Plautus: The Lines are so beau­tiful, that I cannot deny the Reader the Satisfaction of seeing them. They are supposed to be spoken by an hungry Para­site, [Page 197] upon a Sight of one of these Dials.

We find frequent mention of the Hours in the Course of this Poem; but to prevent any Mistake, it may not be improper to take notice, that they must always be understood to mean the Seasons, and not the Division of the Day by Hours.

XI.

‘VERSE 125. The Greeks impulsive Might.]’ We had just before seen that all the Gods were withdrawn from the Bat­tel; that Jupiter was resolv'd even against the Inclinations of them all to honour the Trojans. Yet we here see the Greeks breaking thro' them: The Love the Poet bears to his Coun­trymen makes him aggrandize their Valour, and over-rule even the Decrees of Fate. To vary his Battels, he supposes the Gods to be absent this Day; and they are no sooner gone, but the Courage of the Greeks prevails, even against the De­termination of Jupiter. Eustathius.

XII.

‘VERSE 135. Naked to the Sky.]’ Eustathius refines upon this Place, and believes that Homer intended, by particulari­zing the Whiteness of the Limbs, to ridicule the effeminate Education of these unhappy Youths. But as such an Inter­pretation may be thought below the Majesty of an Epic Poem, and a kind of Barbarity to insult the unfortunate, I thought it better to give the Passage an Air of Compassion. As the [Page 198] Words are equally capable of either meaning, I imagin'd the Reader would be more pleas'd with the Humanity of the one, than with the Satyr of the other.

XIII.

‘VERSE 143. These on the Mountains once Achilles found.]’ Homer, says Eustathius, never lets any Opportunity pass of mentioning the Hero of his Poem, Achilles: He gives here an Instance of his former Resentment, and at once varies his Poetry, and exalts his Character. Nor does he mention him cursorily; he seems unwilling to leave him; and when he pursues the Thread of the Story in a few Lines, takes occa­sion to speak again of him. This is a very artful Conduct, by mentioning him so frequently, he takes care that the Rea­der should not forget him, and shews the Importance of that Hero, whose Anger is the Subject of his Poem. Eustathius.

XIV.

'Tis observable that Homer with a great deal of Art inter­weaves the true History of the Trojan War in his Poem: He here gives a Circumstance that carries us back from the tenth Year of the War to the very beginning of it. So that al­tho' the Action of the Poem takes up but a small Part of the last Year of the War, yet by such Incidents as these we are taught a great many Particulars that happen thro' the whole Series of it. Eustathius.

XV.

‘VERSE 188. Lopp'd his Hands away.]’ I think one cannot but compassionate the Fate of these Brothers, who suffer for the Sins of their Father, notwithstanding the Justice which the Commentators find in this Action of Agamemnon. And I can much less imagine that his cutting off their Hands was [Page 199] meant for an express Example against Bribery, in Revenge for the Gold which Antimachus had received from Paris. Eu­stathius is very refining upon this Point; but the grave Spon­danus out-does them all, who has found there was an excel­lent Conceit in cutting off the Hands and Head of the Son; the first, because the Father had been for laying Hands on the Grecian Embassadors; and the second, because it was from his Head that the Advice proceeded of detaining He­lena.

XVI.

‘VERSE 193. Now by the Foot the flying Foot, &c.]’ After Homer with a poetical Justice has punish'd the Sons of An­timachus for the Crimes of the Father; he carries on the Narration, and presents all the Terrors of the Battel to our view: We see in the lively Description the Men and Chariots overthrown, and hear the Tramplings of the Horses Feet. Thus the Poet very artfully by such sudden Alarms awakens the Attention of the Reader, that is apt to be tired and grow remiss by a plain and more cool Narration.

XVII.

‘VERSE 197. The Brass-hoof'd Steeds.]’ Eustathius observes that the Custom of shoeing Horses was in use in Homer's Time, and calls the Shoes [...], from the Figure of an Half-Moon.

XVIII.

‘VERSE 212. More grateful, now, to Vulturs than their Wives.]’ This is a Reflection of the Poet, and such an one as arises from a Sentiment of Compassion; and indeed there is nothing more moving than to see those Heroes, who were the Love and Delight of their Spouses, reduc'd suddenly to such a Con­dition of Horror, that their very Wives dare not look upon them. I was very much surprized to find a Remark of Eu­stathius upon this, which seems very wrong and unjust: He [Page 200] would have it that there is in this Place an Ellipsis, ‘"For, says he, which comprehends a severe Raillery: Homer would imply that those dead Warriors were now more a­greeable to Vulturs, than they had ever been in all their Days to their Wives.’ This is very ridiculous; to sup­pose that these unhappy Women did not love their Husbands, is to insult them barbarously in their Affliction; and every Body can see that such a Thought in this Place would have appear'd mean, frigid, and out of Season. Homer always endeavours to excite Compassion by the Grief of the Wives, whose Husbands are kill'd in the Battel. Dacier.

XIX.

‘VERSE 217. Now past the Tomb where ancient Ilus lay.]’ By the Exactness of Homer's Description we see as in a Land­scape the very Place where this Battel was fought. Agamem­non drives the Trojans from the Tomb of Ilus, where they en­camp'd all the Night; that Tomb stood in the middle of the Plain: From thence he pursues them by the wild Fig-Tree to the Beech-Tree, and from thence to the very Scaean Gate. Thus the Scene of Action is fix'd, and we see the very Rout through which the one retreats and the other advances. Eu­stathius.

XX.

‘VERSE 241. Iris with haste thy golden Wings display.]’ 'Tis evident that some such Contrivance as this was necessa­ry; The Trojans, we learn from the beginning of this Book, were to be victorious this Day: But if Jupiter had not now interpos'd, they had been driven even within the Walls of Troy. By this means also the Poet consults both for the Ho­nour of Hector and that of Agamemnon. Agamemnon has time enough to shew the Greatness of his Valour, and it is no Disgrace to Hector not to encounter him when Jupiter inter­poses.

Eustathius observes, that the Poet gives us here a Sketch of what is drawn out at large in the Story of this whole Book: [Page 201] This he does to raise the Curiosity of the Reader, and make him impatient to hear those great Actions which must be perform'd before Agamemnon can retire, and Hector be vi­ctorious.

XXI.

‘VERSE 281. Ye sacred Nine!]’ The Poet to win the At­tention of the Reader, and seeming himself to be struck with the Exploits of Agamemnon while he recites them, (who when the Battel was rekindled, rushes out to engage his Enemies) invokes not one Muse as he did in the beginning of the Po­em; but as if he intended to warn us that he was about to relate something surprizing, he invokes the whole Nine; and then as if he had received their Inspiration, goes on to deliver what they suggested to him. By means of this Apostrophe, the Imagination of the Reader is so fill'd, that he seems not only present, but active in the Scene to which the Skill of the Poet has transported him. Eustathius.

XXII.

‘VERSE 283. Iphidamas the bold and young.]’ Homer here gives us the History of this Iphidamas, his Parentage, the Place of his Birth, and many Circumstances of his pri­vate Life. This he does to diversify his Poetry, and to soften with some amiable Embellishments the continual Horrors that must of Necessity strike the Imagination in an uninterrupted Narration of Blood and Slaughter. Eustathius.

XXIII.

‘VERSE 290. Theano's Sister.]’ That the Reader may not be shock'd at the Marriage of Iphidamas with his Mother's Sister, it may not be amiss to observe from Eustathius, that Consanguinity was no Impediment in Greece in the Days of Homer: Nor is Iphidamas singular in this kind of Marriage, for Diomed was married to his own Aunt as well as he.

XXIV.

‘VERSE 349. The fierce Ilythiae.]’ These Ilythiae are the Goddesses that Homer supposes to preside over Child-Birth: He arms their Hands with a kind of an Instrument, from which a pointed Dart is shot into the distressed Mother, as an Arrow is from a Bow: So that as Eris has her Torch and Jupiter his Thunder, these Goddesses have their Darts which they shoot into Women in Travail. He calls them the Daughters of Juno, because she presides over the Marri­age-Bed. Eustathius. Here (says Dacier) we find the Style of the holy Scripture, which to express a severe Pain, usually compares it to that of Women in Labour. Thus David, Pain came upon them as upon a Woman in Travail; and Isaiah, They shall grieve as a Woman in Travail; and all the Prophets are full of the like Expressions.

XXV.

‘VERSE 358. Lo angry Jove forbids your Chief to stay.]’ Eu­stathius remarks upon the Behaviour of Agamemnon in his present Distress: Homer describes him as rack'd with almost intolerable Pains, yet he does not complain of the Anguish he suffers, but that he is obliged to retire from the Fight.

This indeed as it prov'd his undaunted Spirit, so did it likewise his Wisdom: Had he shew'd any unmanly Dejecti­on, it would have dispirited the Army; but his Intrepidity makes them believe his Wound less dangerous, and renders them not so highly concern'd for the Absence of their Ge­neral.

XXVI.

‘VERSE 388. Say, Muse, when Jove the Trojan's Glory crown'd.]’ The Poet just before has given us an Invocation of the Muses, to make us attentive to the great Exploits of Agamemnon. Here we have one with regard to Hector, but this last may perhaps be more easily accounted for than the [Page 203] other. For in that, after so solemn an Invocation, we might reasonably have expected Wonders from the Hero: whereas in Reality he kills but one Man before he himself is wounded; and what he does afterwards seems to proceed from a frantic Valour, arising from the Smart of the Wound: We do not find by the Text that he kills one Man, but over­throws several in his Fury, and then retreats: So that one would imagine he invoked the Muses only to describe his Retreat.

But upon a nearer view, we shall find that Homer shews a commendable Partiality to his own Countryman and Hero Agamemnon: He seems to detract from the Greatness of Hector's Actions, by ascribing them to Jupiter; whereas Aga­memnon conquers by the Dint of Bravery: And that this is a just Observation, will appear by what follows. Those Greeks that fall by the Sword of Hector, he passes over as if they were all vulgar Men: He says nothing of them but that they dy'd; and only briefly mentions their Names, as if he endeavour'd to conceal the Overthrow of the Greeks. But when he speaks of his favourite General Agamemnon, he expatiates and dwells upon his Actions; and shews us, that those that fell by his Hand were all Men of Distinction, such as were the Sons of Priam, of Antenor, and Antimachus. 'Tis true, Hector kill'd as many Leaders of the Greeks as A­gamemnon of the Trojans, and more of the common Soldiers; but by particularizing the Deaths of the Chiefs of Troy, he sets the Deeds of Agamemnon in the strongest Point of Light, and by his Silence in respect to the Leaders whom Hector slew, he casts a Shade over the Greatness of the Action, and consequently it appears less conspicuous.

XXVII.

‘VERSE 406. But wise Ulysses call'd Tydides forth.]’ There is something instructive in the most seemingly common Pas­sages of Homer, who by making the wise Ulysses direct the brave Diomed in all the Enterprizes of the last Book, and by maintaining the same Conduct in this, intended to shew this Moral, that Valour should always be under the Guidance of [Page 204] Wisdom: Thus in the eighth Book when Diomed could scarce be restrain'd by the Thunder of Jupiter, Nestor is at hand to moderate his Courage; and this Hero seems to have made a very good use of those Instructions; his Valour no longer runs out into Rashness, tho' he is too brave to decline the Fight, yet he is too wise to fight against Jupiter.

XXVIII.

‘VERSE 448. Great Diomed himself was seiz'd with Fear.]’ There seems to be some Difficulty in these Words: This brave Warrior, who has frequently met Hector in the Battel, and offer'd himself for the single Combat, is here said to be seiz'd with Fear at the very Sight of him: This may be thought not to agree with his usual Behaviour, and to dero­gate from the general Character of his Intrepidity: But we must remember, that Diomed himself has but just told us, that Jupiter fought against the Grecians; and that all the Endeavours of himself and Ulysses would be in vain: This Fear therefore of Diomed is far from being dishonourable: it is not Hector, but Jupiter of whom he is afraid. Eu­stathius.

XXIX.

‘VERSE 477. Ilus' Monument.]’ I thought it necessary just to put the Reader in mind that the Battel still continues near the Tomb of Ilus: By a just Observation of that, we may with Pleasure see the various Turns of the Fight, and how every Step of Ground is won or lost as the Armies are re­puls'd or victorious.

XXX.

One would think that the Poet at all times endeavour'd to condemn the Practice of stripping the Dead, during the Heat of Action: He frequently describes the Victor wounded, while [Page 205] he is so employ'd about the Bodies of the slain: Thus in the present Book we see Agamemnon, Diomed, Ulysses, Elephenor, and Eurypylus, all suffer as they strip the Men they slew; and in the sixth Book he brings in the wise Nestor directly forbid­ding it. Eustathius.

XXXI.

‘VERSE 483. But pierc'd his Foot.]’ It cannot but be a Sa­tisfaction to the Reader to see the Poet smitten with the Love of his Country, and at all times consulting its Honour: This Day was to be glorious to Troy, but Homer takes care to remove with Honour most of the bravest Greeks from the Field of Battel, before the Trojans can conquer. Thus Agamemnon, Diomed, and Ulysses must bleed, before the Poet can allow his Countrymen to retreat. Eustathius.

XXXII.

‘VERSE 484. The laughing Trojan.]’ Eustathius is of Opi­nion that the Poet intended to satyrize in this Place the un­warlike Behaviour of Paris: Such an effeminate Laugh and Gesture is unbecoming a brave Warrior, but agrees very well with the Character of Paris: He is before said to be more delighted with the soft amorous Lyre, than with the warlike Sound of the Battel: Nor do I remember that in the whole Iliad any one Person is describ'd in such an indecent Trans­port, tho' upon a much more glorious or successful Action. He concludes his ludicrous Insult with a Circumstance very much to the Honour of Diomed, and very much to the Dis­advantage of his own Character, who reveals to an Enemy the Fears of Troy, and compares the Greeks to Lions, and the Trojans to Sheep. Diomed is the very reverse of him; he de­spises and lessens the Wound he receiv'd, and in the midst of his Pain, would not gratify his Enemy with the little Joy he might give him by letting him know it.

XXXIII.

‘VERSE 513. And questions thus his own unconquer'd Soul.]’ This is a Passage which very much strikes me: We have here a brave Hero making a noble Soliloquy, or rather cal­ling a Council within himself, when he was singly to encoun­ter an Army: 'Tis impossible for the Reader not to be in Pain for so gallant a Man in such an imminent Danger; he must be impatient for the Event, and his whole Curiosity must be awaken'd till he knows the Fate of Ulysses, who scorn'd to fly, tho' encompass'd by an Army.

XXXIV.

‘VERSE 550. By Pallas' Care.]’ It is a just Observation, that there is no Moral so evident, or so constantly carry'd on through the Iliad, as the Necessity Mankind at all times has of divine Assistance. Nothing is perform'd with Success, without particular mention of this; Hector is not sav'd from a Dart without Apollo, or Ulysses without Minerva. Homer is perpetually acknowledging the Hand of God in all Events, and ascribing to that only all the Victories, Triumphs, Re­wards, or Punishments of Men. Thus the grand Moral he laid down at the Entrance of his Poem, [...], The Will of God was fulfill'd, runs thro' his whole Work, and is with a most remarkable Care and Conduct put into the Mouths of his greatest and wisest Persons on every Oc­casion.

Homer generally makes some peculiar God attend on each Hero: For the Ancients believ'd that every Man had his particular Tutelary Deity; these in succeeding Times were called Daemons or Genii, who (as they thought) were given to Men at the Hour of their Birth, and directed the whole Course of their Lives. See Cebes's Tablet. Menander, as he is cited by Ammianus Marcellinus, styles them [...], the invisible Guides of Life.

XXXV.

‘VERSE 566. Fam'd Son of Hippasus.]’ Homer has been blam'd by some late Censurers for making his Heroes address Discourses to the Dead. Passion (says Dacier) dictates these Speeches, and it is generally to the dying, not to the dead, that they are address'd. However, one may say, that they are often rather Reflections than Insults. Were it otherwise, Homer deserves not to be censured for feigning what Histories have reported as Truth. We find in Plutarch that Mark An­tony upon Sight of the dead Body of Brutus, stopp'd and re­proach'd him with the Death of his Brother Caius, whom Brutus had kill'd in Macedonia in Revenge for the Murder of Cicero. I must confess I am not altogether pleas'd with the Railleries he sometimes uses to a vanquish'd Warrior, which Inhumanities if spoken to the dying, would I think be yet worse than after they were dead.

XXXVI.

‘VERSE 572. And hov'ring Vulturs scream around their Prey.]’ This is not literally translated, what the Poet says gives us the most lively Picture imaginable of the Vulturs in the Act of tearing their Prey with their Bills: They beat the Body with their Wings as they rend it, which is a very natural Cir­cumstance, but scarce possible to be copy'd by a Translator without losing the Beauty of it.

XXXVII.

‘VERSE 573. Me Greece shall honour when I meet my Doom, With solemn Funerals.—]’ We may see from such Passages as these that Honours paid to the Ashes of the dead have been greatly valued in all Ages: This posthumous Honour was paid as a publick Acknowledgment that the Person deceas'd had deserv'd well of his Country, and consequently was an Incitement to the living to imitate his Actions: In this view there is no Man but would be ambitious of them, not as they [Page 208] are Testimonies of Titles or Riches, but of distinguish'd Merit.

XXXVIII.

‘VERSE 592. Great Ajax like the God of War attends.]’ The Silence of other Heroes on many Occasions is very beautiful in Homer, but peculiarly so in Ajax, who is a gallant rough Soldier, and readier to act than to speak: The present Ne­cessity of Ulysses requir'd such a Behaviour, for the least Delay might have been fatal to him: Ajax therefore complying both with his own Inclinations, and the urgent Condition of Ulysses, makes no Reply to Menelaus, but immediately ha­stens to his Relief. The Reader will observe how justly the Poet maintains this Character of Ajax throughout the whole Iliad, who is often silent when he has an Opportunity to speak, and when he speaks, 'tis like a Soldier, with a martial Air, and always with Brevity. Eustathius.

XXXIX.

‘VERSE 637. A wise Physician.]’ The Poet passes a very signal Commendation upon Physicians: The Army had seen several of the bravest of their Heroes wounded, yet were not so much dispirited for them all, as they were at the single Danger of Machaon: But the Person whom he calls a Phy­sician, seems rather to be a Surgeon. The cutting out of Arrows, and applying Anodynes being the Province of the latter: However (as Eustathius says) we must conclude that Machaon was both a Physician and Surgeon, and that those two Professions were practised by one Person.

It is reasonable to think from the Frequency of their Wars, that the Profession in those Days was chiefly Chirurgical: Celsus says expressly that the Diaetetic was long after invented; but that Botany was in great Esteem and Practice, appears from the Stories of Medea, Circe, &c. We often find men­tion among the most ancient Writers, of Women eminent in that Art; as of Agamede in this very Book, ℣. 740. who is said (like Solomon) to have known the Virtues of every Plant [Page 209] that grew on the Earth, and of Polydamne in the fourth Book of the Odysseis, ℣. 227, &c.

Homer, I believe, knew all that was known in his Time of the Practice of these Arts. His Methods of extracting of Arrows, stanching of Blood by the bitter Root, fomenting of Wounds with warm Water, applying proper Bandages and Remedies, are all according to the true Precepts of Art. There are likewise several Passages in his Works that shew his Knowledge of the Virtues of Plants, even of those Qua­lities which are commonly (tho 'perhaps erroneously) ascri­bed to them, as of the Moly against Enchantments, the Wil­low which causes Barrenness, the Nepenthe, &c.

XL.

‘VERSE 669. But partial Jove, &c.]’ The Address of Ho­mer in bringing off Ajax with Decency is admirable: He makes Hector afraid to approach him: He brings down Ju­piter himself to terrify him; so that he retreats not from a Mortal, but a God.

This whole Passage is inimitably just and beautiful, we see Ajax drawn in the most bold and strong Colours, and in a manner alive in the Description. Wee see him slowly and sullenly retreat between two Armies, and even with a Look repulsing the one, and protecting the other: There is not one Line but what resembles Ajax; the Character of a stubborn but undaunted Warrior is perfectly maintain'd, and must strike the Reader at the first view. He compares him first to the Lion for his Undauntedness in Fighting, and then to the Ass for his stubborn Slowness in retreating; tho' in the latter Comparison there are many other Points of Like­ness that enliven the Image: The Havock he makes in the Field is represented by the tearing and trampling down the Harvests; and we see the Bulk, Strength, and Obstinacy of the Hero, when the Trojans in respect to him are compared but to Troops of Boys that impotently endeavour to drive him away.

Eustathius is silent as to those Objections which have been rais'd against this last Simile, for a pretended Want of Deli­cacy: [Page 210] This alone is Conviction to me that they are all of a later Date: For else he would not have fail'd to have vindica­ted his favourite Poet in a Passage that had been applauded many hundreds of Years, and stood the Test of Ages.

But Monsieur Dacier has done it very well in his Remarks upon Aristotle. ‘"In the time of Homer (says that Author) an Ass was not in such Circumstances of Contempt as in ours: The Name of that Animal was not then converted into a Term of Reproach, but it was a Beast upon which Kings and Princes might be seen with Dignity. And it will not be very discreet to ridicule this Comparison, which the holy Scripture has put into the Mouth of Jacob, who says in the Benediction of his Children, Issachar shall be as a strong Ass.’ Monsieur de la Motte gives up this Point, and excuses Homer for his Choice of this Animal, but is un­happily disgusted at the Circumstance of the Boys, and the obstinate Gluttony of the Ass, which he says are Images too mean to represent the determin'd Valour of Ajax, and the Fury of his Enemies. It is answer'd by Madam Dacier, that what Homer here images is not the Gluttony; but the Pati­ence, the Obstinacy, and Strength of the Ass (as Eustathius had before observ'd.) To judge rightly of Comparisons, we are not to examine if the Subject from whence they are de­riv'd be great or little, noble or familiar; but we are prin­cipally to consider if the Image produc'd be clear and lively, if the Poet has the Skill to dignify it by poetical Words, and if it perfectly paints the thing it is intended to represent. A Company of Boys whipping a Top is very far from a great and noble Subject, yet Virgil has not scrupled to draw from it a Similitude which admirably expresses a Princess in the Vi­olence of her Passion.

[Page 211] However, upon the whole, a Translator owes so much to the Taste of the Age in which he lives, as not to make too great a Complement to a former; and this induced me to omit the mention of the word Ass in the Translation. I believe the Reader will pardon me, if on this Occasion I transcribe a Passage from Mr. Boileau's Notes on Longinus.

‘"There is nothing (says he) that more disgraces a Composition than the Use of mean and vulgar Words; insomuch that (generally speaking) a mean Thought express'd in noble Terms, is more tolerable than a no­ble Thought express'd in mean ones. The Reason where­of is, that all the World are not capable to judge of the Justness and Force of a Thought; but there's scarce a­ny Man who cannot, especially in a living Language, per­ceive the least Meanness of Words. Nevertheless very few Writers are free from this Vice: Longinus accuses Herodo­tus, the most polite of all the Greek Historians, of this Defect; and Livy, Salust, and Virgil have not escaped the same Censure. Is it not then very surprizing, that no Reproach on this Account has been ever cast upon Homer? tho' he has compos'd two Poems each more voluminous than the Aeneid; and tho' no Author whatever has des­cended more frequently than he into a Detail of little Par­ticularities. Yet he never uses Terms which are not noble, or if he uses humble Words or Phrases, it is with so much Art and Industry, that, as Dionysius observes, they become noble and harmonious. Undoubtedly if there had been any Cause to charge him with this Fault, Longinus had spared him no more than Herodotus. We may learn from hence the Ignorance of those modern Criticks, who re­solving to judge of the Greek without the Knowledge of it, and never reading Homer but in low and inelegant Translations, impute the Meannesses of his Translators to the Poet himself; and ridiculously blame a Man who spoke in one Language, for speaking what is not elegant in ano­ther. They ought to know that the Words of different Languages are not always exactly correspondent; and it may often happen that a Word which is very noble in Greek, cannot be render'd in another Tongue but by one [Page 212] which is very mean. Thus the word Asinus in Latin, and Ass in English, are the vilest imaginable, but that which signifies the same Animal in Greek and Hebrew, is of Dig­nity enough to be employed on the most magnificent Oc­casions. In like manner the Terms of a Hogherd and Cowkeeper in our Language are insufferable, but those which answer to them in Greek, [...] and [...], are graceful and harmonious: and Virgil who in his own Tongue en­titled his Eclogs Bucolica, would have been ashamed to have called them in ours, the Dialogues of Cowkeepers.’

XLI.

‘VERSE 713. Back to the Lines the wounded Greek retires.]’ We see here almost all the Chiefs of the Grecian Army with­drawn: Nestor and Ulysses, the two great Counsellors; Aga­memnon, Diomed, and Eurypylus, the bravest Warriors; all retreated: So that now in this Necessity of the Greeks, there was occasion for the Poet to open a new Scene of Action, or else the Trojans had been victorious, and the Grecians driven from the Shores of Troy. To shew the Distress of the Greeks at this Period, from which the Poem takes a new Turn, 'twill be convenient to cast a View on the Posture of their Affairs: All human Aid is cut off by the Wounds of their Heroes, and all Assistance from the Gods forbid by Ju­piter: Whereas the Trojans see their General at their Head, and Jupiter himself fights on their side. Upon this Hinge turns the whole Poem; the Distress of the Greeks occasions first the Assistance of Patroclus, and then the Death of that Hero draws on the Return of Achilles. It is with great Art that the Poet conducts all these Incidents: He lets Achilles have the Pleasure of seeing that the Greeks were no longer able to carry on the War without his Assistance: and up­on this depends the great Catastrophe of the Poem. Eu­stathius.

XLII.

‘VERSE 731. That Hour Achilles, &c.]’ Tho' the Resent­ment of Achilles would not permit him to be an Actor in [Page 213] the Battel, yet his Love of War inclines him to be a Specta­tor: And as the Poet did not intend to draw the Character of a perfect Man in Achilles, he makes him delighted with the Destruction of the Greeks, because it conspired with his Revenge: That Resentment which is the Subject of the Po­em, still prevails over all his other Passions, even the Love of his Country; for tho' he begins now to pity his Coun­trymen, yet his Anger stifles those tender Emotions, and he seems pleas'd with their Distress, because he judges it will contribute to his Glory. Eustathius.

XLIII.

‘VERSE 735. His Friend Machaon, &c.]’ It may be ask'd why Machaon is the only Person whom Achilles pities? Eu­stathius answers, that it was either because he was his Coun­tryman, a Thessalian; or because Aesculapius, the Father of Machaon, presided over Physick, the Profession of his Pre­ceptor Chiron. But perhaps it may be a better Reason to say that a Physician is a publick Good, and was valued by the whole Army; and it is not improbable but he might have cured Achilles of a Wound during the Course of the Trojan Wars.

XLIV.

‘VERSE 747. Now at my Knees the Greeks shall pour their Moan.]’ The Poet by putting these Words into the Mouth of Achilles, leaves room for a second Embassy, and (since Achilles himself mentions it) one may think it would not have been unsuccessful: But the Poet, by a more happy Management, makes his Friend Patroclus the Advocate of the Greeks, and by that means his Return becomes his own Choice. This Con­duct admirably maintains the Character of Achilles, who does not assist the Greeks thro' his Kindness to them, but from a De­sire of Revenge upon the Trojans: His present Anger for the Death of his Friend, blots out the former one for the Injury of Agamemnon; and as he separated from the Army in a Rage, so he joins it again in the like Disposition. Eu­stathius.

XLV.

‘VERSE 764. And took their Seats beneath the shady Tent.]’ The Poet here steals away the Reader from the Battel, and relieves him by the Description of Nestor's Entertainment. I hope to be pardon'd for having more than once repeated this Observation, which extends to several Passages of Homer. Without this Piece of Conduct, the Frequency and Length of his Battels might fatigue the Reader, who could not so long be delighted with continued Scenes of Blood.

XLVI.

‘VERSE 774. A Goblet sacred to the Pylian Kings.]’ There are some who can find out a Mystery in the plainest things; they can see what the Author never meant, and explain him into the greatest Obscurities. Eustathius here gives us a very extraordinary Instance of this Nature: The Bowl by an Al­legory figures the World; the spherical Form of it represents its Roundness; the Greek word which signifies the Doves be­ing spell'd almost like the Pleiades, is said to mean that Con­stellation; and because the Poet tells us the Bowl was studded with Gold, those Studs must needs imply the Stars.

XLVII.

‘VERSE 779. Yet heav'd with ease by him.]’ There has e­ver been a great Dispute about this Passage; nor is it appa­rent for what Reason the Poet should tell us that Nestor even in his old Age could more easily lift this Bowl than any other Man. This has drawn a great deal of Raillery upon the old Man, as if he had learnt to lift it by frequent Use, an Insi­nuation that Nestor was no Enemy to Wine. Others with more Justice to his Character have put another Construction upon the Words, which solves the Improbability very natu­rally. According to this Opinion the word which is usually supposed to signify another Man, is render'd another old Man, [Page 215] meaning Machaon, whose Wound made him incapable to lift it. This would have taken away the Difficulty without any Violence to the Construction. But Eustathius tells us, the Propriety of Speech would require the word to be, not [...] but [...], when spoken but of two. But why then may it not signify any other old Men?

XLVIII.

‘VERSE 782. Pours a large Potion.]’ The Potion which Hecamede here prepares for Machaon, has been thought a very extraordinary one in the Case of a wounded Person, and by some Criticks held in the same Degree of Repute with the Balsam of Fierabras in Don Quizot. But it is rightly observed by the Commentators, that Machaon was not so dangerously hurt, as to be obliged to a different Re­gimen from what he might use at another time. Homer had just told us that he stay'd on the Sea-side to refresh him­self, and he now enters into a long Conversation with Nestor; neither of which would have been done by a Man in any great Pain or Danger: His Loss of Blood and Spirits might make him not so much in fear of a Feaver, as in want of a Cordial; and accordingly this Potion is rather alimentary than medicinal. If it had been directly improper in this Case, I cannot help fancying that Homer would not have fail'd to tell us of Machaon's rejecting it. Yet after all, some Answer may be made even to the grand Objection, that Wine was too inflammatory for a wounded Man. Hippocrates allows Wine in acute Cases, and even without Water in Cases of In­digestion. He says indeed in his Book of ancient Medicine, that the Ancients were ignorant both of the good and bad Qualities of Wine: and yet the Potion here prescrib'd will not be allow'd by Physicians to be an Instance that they were so; for Wine might be proper for Machaon not only as a Cordial, but as an Opiate. Asclepiades, a Physician who flourish'd at Rome in the Time of Pompey, prescribed Wine in Feavers, and even in Phrenzies to cause Sleep. Caelius Au­relianus, lib. 4. c. 14.

XLIX.

‘VERSE 801. Can then the Sons of Greece, &c.]’ It is cu­stomary with those who translate or comment on an Author, to use him as they do their Mistress; they can see no Faults, or rather convert his very Faults into Beauties; but I cannot be so partial to Homer, as to imagine that this Speech of Nestor's is not greatly blameable for being too long: He crouds Incident upon Incident, and when he speaks of him­self, he expatiates upon his own great Actions, very natu­rally indeed to old Age, but unseasonably in the present Jun­cture. When he comes to speak of his killing the Son of Augeas, he is so pleas'd with himself, that he forgets the Distress of the Army, and cannot leave his favourite Subject till he has given us the Pedigree of his Relations, his Wife's Name, her Excellence, the Command he bore, and the Fury with which he assaulted him. These and many other Circumstances, as they have no visible Allusion to the Design of the Speech, seem to be unfortunately introduc'd. In short, I think they are not so valuable upon any other Account, as because they preserve a Piece of ancient History, which had otherwise been lost.

What tends yet farther to make this Story seem absurd, is what Patroclus said at the beginning of the Speech, that he had not leisure even to sit down; so that Nestor detains him in the Tent standing, during the whole Narration.

They that are of the contrary Opinion observe, that there is a great deal of Art in some Branches of the Discourse; that when Nestor tells Patroclus how he had himself disobey'd his Father's Commands for the sake of his Country, he says it to make Achilles reflect that he disobeys his Father by the contrary Behaviour: That what he did himself was to retaliate a small Injury, but Achilles by fighting may save the Grecian Army. He mentions the Wound of Agamemnon at the very beginning, with an Intent to give Achilles a little Re­venge, and that he may know how much his greatest Enemy has suffer'd by his Absence. There are many other Argu­ments brought in the Defence of particular Parts; and it [Page 217] may not be from the Purpose to observe, that Nestor might designedly protract the Speech, that Patroclus might himself behold the Distress of the Army: Thus every Moment he detain'd him, enforced his Arguments, by the growing Mis­fortunes of the Greeks. Whether this was the Intention or not, it must be allowed that the Stay of Patroclus was very happy for the Greeks; for by this means he met Eurypylus wounded, who confirm'd him into a Certainty that their Af­fairs were desperate, without Achilles's Aid.

As for Nestor's second Story, it is much easier to be de­fended; it tends directly to the Matter in hand, and is told in such a manner as to affect both Patroclus and Achilles; the Circumstances are well adapted to the Person to whom they are spoken, and by repeating their Father's Instructi­ons, he as it were brings them in, seconding his Admo­nitions.

L.

‘VERSE 819. The Bulls of Elis in glad Triumph led.]’ Elis is the whole Southern Part of Peloponnesus, between Achaia and Messenia; it was originally divided into several Districts or Principalities, afterwards it was reduc'd to two; the one of the Elians, who were the same with the Epeians, the other of Nestor. This Remark is necessary for the understanding what follows. In Homer's Time the City Elis was not built. Dacier.

LI.

‘VERSE 839. At the publick Course Detain'd his Chariot.]’ 'Tis said that these were particular Games, which Augeas had establish'd in his own State; and that the Olympic Games cannot be here understood, because Hercules did not institute them till he had kill'd this King, and deliver'd his Kingdom to Phyleus, whom his Father Augeas had banish'd. The Pri­zes of these Games of Augeas were Prizes of Wealth, as gol­den Tripods, &c. whereas the Prizes of the Olympic Games were only plain Chaplets of Leaves or Branches: Besides, 'tis probable Homer knew nothing of these Chaplets given at [Page 218] the Games, nor of the triumphal Crowns, nor of the Gar­lands wore at Feasts; if he had, he would some where or other have mentioned them. Eustathius.

LII.

‘VERSE 845. The Sons of Actor.]’ These are the same whom Homer calls the two Molions, namely, Eurytus and Cteatus. Thryoëssa in the Lines following is the same Town which he calls Thryon in the Catalogue. The River Minyas is the same with Anygrus, about half way between Pylos and Thryoëssa, call'd Minyas from the Minyans who liv'd on the Banks of it. It appears from what the Poet says of the Time of their March, that it is half a Day's March between Pylos and Thryoëssa. Eustathius. Strabo, lib. 8.

LIII.

There is a Resemblance between this Passage and one in the sacred Scripture, where all the Congregation blessed the Lord God of their Fathers, and bowed down their Heads, and wor­shipped the Lord, and the King. 1 Chron. 29. 20.

LIV.

‘VERSE 916. Peleus said only this,—"My Son, be brave.]’ The Conciseness of this Advice is very beautiful; Achilles be­ing hasty, active, and young, might not have burthen'd his Memory with a long Discourse: Therefore Peleus comprehends all his Instructions in one Sentence. But Menoetius speaks more largely to Patroclus, he being more advanc'd in Years, and mature in Judgment; and we see by the manner of the Expression, that he was sent with Achilles, not only as a Com­panion but as a Monitor, of which Nestor puts him in mind, to shew that it is rather his Duty to give good Advice to Achilles, than to follow his Caprice, and espouse his Resent­ment. Eustathius.

LV.

‘VERSE 923. Ah try the utmost, &c.]’ It may not be un­grateful to the Reader to see at one view the Aim and Design of Nestor's Speech. By putting Patroclus in mind of his Fa­ther's Injunctions, he provokes him to obey him by a like Zeal for his Country: By the mention of the Sacri­fice, he reprimands him for a Breach of those Engagements to which the Gods were Witnesses: By saying that the very Arms of Achilles would restore the Fortunes of Greece, he makes a high Complement to that Hero, and offers a pow­erful Insinuation to Patroclus at the same time, by giving him to understand, that he may personate Achilles. Eustathius.

LVI.

‘VERSE 928. If ought from Heav'n with-hold his saving Arm.]’ Nestor says this upon account of what Achilles himself spoke in the ninth Book; and it is very much to the Purpose, for nothing could sooner move Achilles than to make him think it was the general Report in the Army, that he shut himself up in his Tent for no other reason, but to escape Death, with which his Mother had threaten'd him in disco­vering to him the Decrees of the Destinies. Dacier.

LVII.

‘VERSE 969. Of two fam'd Surgeons.]’ Tho' Podalirius is mention'd first for the sake of the Verse, both here and in the Catalogue, Machaon seems to be the Person of the greatest Character upon many Accounts: Besides, it is to him that Homer attributes the Cure of Philoctetes, who was lame by having let an Arrow dipt in the Gall of the Hydra of Lerna fall upon his Foot; a plain Mark that Machaon was an a­bler Physician than Chiron the Centaure, who could not cure himself of such a Wound. Podalirius had a Son named Hypo­lochus, from whom the famous Hippocrates was descended.

LVIII.

‘VERSE 977. But this Distress this Instant claims Relief.]’ Eustathius remarks, that Homer draws a great Advantage for the Conduct of his Poem from this Incident of the Stay of Patroclus; for while he is employ'd in the friendly Task of taking Care of Eurypylus, he becomes an Eye-witness of the Attack upon the Entrenchments, and finds the Necessity of using his utmost Efforts to move Achilles.