for they came with a full force into his fcheme; the moral they infpir'd was unity; the air they breath'd was martial; and their ftory had this particular engagement for the Lacedemonians, that it fhew'd Greece in war, and Afia fubdu'd under the conduct of ̈ one of their own Monarchs, who commanded all the Gracian Princes. Thus the Poet both pleas'd the law-giver, and the people; from whence he had a double influence when the laws were fettled. For his Poem then became a Panegyrick on their conftitution, as well as a Regifter of their glory; and confirm'd them in the love of it by a gallant defcription of thofe qualities and actions for which it was adapted. This made b Cleomenes call him The Poet of the Lacedæmonians: And therefore when we remember that Homer owed the publication of his works to Lycurgus, we fhould grant too, that Lycurgus owed in fome degree the enforcement of his laws to the works of Homer. in Greece. At their first appearance in Greece, they were not digefted into a regular Their reception body, but remain'd as they were brought over, in feveral detach'd pieces, call'd (according to Elian) from the fubject on which they treated; as the battle at the ships, the death of Dolon, the valour of Agamemnon, the Patroclea, the grot of Calypfo, flaughter of the Wooers, and the like. Nor were thefe entitled Books, but Rhapsodies; from whence they who fung them had the title of Rhapsodifts. It was in this manner they began to be disperst, while their poetry, their history, the glory they afcrib'd to Greece in general, the particular defcription they gave of it, and the complement they paid to every little state by an honourable mention, fo influ c ́ Ælian. l. 13. sap. 14. • Plutarch. Apophtheg. D 3 enc'd enc'd all, that they were tranfcrib'd and fung with general approbation. But what feems to have moft recommended them was, that Greece. which could not be great in its divided condition,. looked upon the fable of them as a likely plan of future grandeur. They feem from thenceforward to have had an eye upon the conqueft of Afia, as a proper undertaking, which by its importance might occafion union enough to give a diverfion from civil wars, and by its profecution bring in an acquifition of honour and empire.. This is the meaning of d Ifocrates, when he tells us, "That Homer's Poetry was in the greater efteem, "because it gave exceeding praife to those who "fought against the Barbarians. Our ancestors (continues he) "honour'd it with a place in education "and mufical contefts, that by often hearing it we "fhould have a notion of an original enmity be "tween us and those nations; and that admiring the "virtue of those who fought at Troy, we fhould be "induc'd to emulate their glory.". And indeed they never quitted this thought, 'till they had fuccefsfully carry'd their arms where-ever Homer might thus excite them. Digefted into order at Athens. But while his works were fuffer'd to lie in an unconnected manner, the chain of story was not always perceiv'd, fo that they loft much of their force and beauty by being read diforderly. Wherefore as Lacedemon had the first honour of their publi • Οἶμαι 5 * * Ομήρε ποίησιν μείζω λαβεῖν δόξαν, ὅτι καλῶς του πολεμήσαντας τοῖς βαρβάροις ἐνενκωμίασε· ἡ διὰ τέτο βεληθῆναι του Προγόνες και ἔντιμον αὐτῷ ποιήσαι * τέχνίω, ἐν τε τοῖς τ μεσικῆς ἀθλοῖς, ἢ τῆ παιδούσε τη νεωτέρων ἵνα πολλάκις αἰκέοντες τοὺς ἐπων, εκμανθάνων ἔχθραν ἢ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὑπάρ χεσαν, η ζηλόνίες τὰς ἀρετὰς τες σρατουσαμβρίων όπί Τροίαν aughs for cheiros dμâu. Ifocrat. Paneg. cation by Lycurgus, that of their regulation fell to the fhare of Athens in the time of e Solon, who himself made a law for their recital. It was then that Pififtratus, the Tyrant of Athens, who was a man of great learning and eloquence, (as f Cicero has it) first Rut together the confus'd parts of Homer, according to that regularity in which they are now handed down to us. He divided them into the two different -Works, entitled the Iliad and Odyssey; he digefted each according to the Author's defign, to make their plans become evident; and diftinguifh'd each again · into twenty four books, to which were afterwards prefix'd the twenty four letters. There is a paffage indeed in g Plato, which takes this Work from Pif-ftratus, by giving it to his fon Hipparchus; with this addition, that he commanded them to be fung at the feaft call'd Panathenaa. Perhaps it may be, as h Leo Allatius has imagin'd, because the fon publifh'd the copy more correctly: Thus he offers,' to reconcile fo great a teftimony as Plato's to the cloud of witneffes which are against him in it: But be that as it will, Athens ftill claims its proper honour of refcuing the father of learning from the injuries of time, of having reftor'd Homer to himself, and given the world a view of him in his perfection. So that if his verses were before admir'd for their use and beauty, as the ftars were before they were confider'd in a fyftem of science; they are now admir'd much more for their Diog. Laert. vit. Sol. Quis doctior iifdem illis temporibus, aut cujus eloquená litteris inftructior quàm Pififtrati? Qui primus Homeri libros, confufos antea, fic difpofuiffe dicitur ut nunc habemus. Cic. de Orat. l. 3. Vide etiam El. l. 13. cap. 14. Liban. Panegyr. in Jul. Anonymam Homeri vitam. Fufies verò in Commentatoribus Dyon. Thracis. Plate in Hipparcho. Leo Allatius de patria Hom. cap. 5. graceful graceful harmony, and that sphere of order in which they appear to move. They became thenceforward more the pleasure of the wits of Greece, more the fubject of their ftudies, and the employment of their pens. About the time that this new edition of Homer was publish'd in Athens, there was one Cynathus, a learned Rhapfodift, who (as thei Scholiaft of Pindar informs us) fettled firft at Syracufe in that employment; and if (as Leo Allatius believes) he had been before an af fiftant in the edition, he may be fuppos'd to have firft carry'd it abroad. But it was not long preferv'd correct among his followers; they committed mistakes in their tranfcriptions and repetitions, and had even the prefumption to alter fome lines, and interpolate others. Thus the works of Homer run the danger of being utterly defac'd; which made it become the concern of Kings and Philofophers, that they should be reftor'd to their primitive beauty. The Edition in Macedon under Alexander. In the front of thefe is Alexander the Great, for whom they will appeas peculiarly calculated, if we confider that no books more enliven or flatter perfonal valour, which was great in him to what we call romantick: Neither has any book more places applicable to his defigns on Afia, or (as it happen'd) to his actions there. It was then no ill complement in k Ariftotle to purge the Iliad, upon his account, from thofe errors and additions which had crept into it. And fo far was Alexander himself from efteeming it a matter of fmall importance, that he afterwards affifted in a strict review of iSchol. Pind. in Nem. Od. 2. Plut. in vita Alexandri. Φίλε γῆν τὶς διόρθωσις τ' Ὁμήρε ποιήσεως ἡ ἐκ τῶ Νάρ ик of it with Anaxarchus and Callifthenes; whether it was merely because he esteem'd it a treasury of military virtue and knowledge; or that (according to a late ingenious conjecture) he had a farther aim in promoting the propagation of it, when he was ambitious to be esteem'd a fon of Jupiter; as a book which treating of the fons of the Gods, might make the intercourfe between them and mortals become a familiar notion. The review being finish'd, he laid it up in a casket, which was found among the fpoils of Darius, as what best deserv'd so ineftimable a cafe; and from this circumftance it was nam'd The Edition of the Cafket. Editions in E gypt. The place where the works of Homer were next found in the greatest regard, is Egypt, under the reign of the Ptolemies. Thefe Kings being defcended from Greece, retain'd always a paffion for their original country. The men, the books, the qualifications of it, were in efteem in their court; they preferv'd the language in their family; they encou rag'd a concourfe of learned men; erected the greateft library in the world; and train'd up their Princes under Gracian tutors; among whom the most confiderable were appointed for revifers of Homer. The first of thefe was m Zenodotus, librarykeeper to the firft Ptolemy, and qualify'd for this undertaking by being both a Poet, and a Grammarian: But neither his copy nor that which his dif ciple Ariftophanes had made, fatisfying Ariftarchus, The Retorn To Anávdes μ to wei Koyladivle : Avde αρχον ἐπελθόντα, κα σημειωσαμε έπειτα καταθέντα εἰς Νάρ θηκα ὃν εὗρεν Περσικῇ γάζη πολυτελῶς κατεσκόυασκαλείον. Stra bo, lib. 13. Suidas. D 5 whom |