70 The fleet in view, he twang'd his deadly bow, On mules and dogs th' infection first began; And last, the vengeful arrows fix'd in man. . 67. He bent his deadly bow. In the tenth year of the fiege of Troy a plague happen'd in the Grecian camp, occafion'd perhaps by immoderate heats and grofs exhalations. At the introduction of this accident Homer begins his Poem, and takes occafion from it to open the fcene of action with a most beautiful allegory. He fuppofes that fuch, afflictions are fent from Heaven for the punishment of our evil actions; and because the Sun was a principal inftrument of it, he says it was fent to punish Agamemnon for despifing that God, and injuring his priest. Eustathius. 69. Males and dogs.] Hippocrates obferves two things of plagues; that their caufe is in the air, and that different animals are differently touch'd by them, according to their nature or nourishment. This philofophy Spondanus refers to the plague here mention'd. First, the caufe is in the air, by reafon of the darts or beams of Apollo. Secondly, the mules and dogs are faid to die fooner than the men; partly because they have by nature a quickness of fmell, which makes the infection fooner perceivable; and partly by the nourishment they take, their feeding on the earth with prone heads, making the exhalation more cafy to be fuck'd in with it. Thus has Hippocrates, fo long after Homer writ, fubfcrib'd to his knowledge in the rite and progrefs of this distemper. There have been fome who have referr'd this paffage to a religious fenfe, making the death of the mules and dogs before the men to point out a kind method of providence in punishing, whereby it fends fome previous afflictions to warn mankind, fo as make them fhun the greater evils by repentance. This Monfieur Dacier in his notes on Ariftotle's art of poetry, calls a Remark perfectly fine and agreeable to God's method of fending plagues on the Egyptians, where firft horfes, affes, &c. were fimitten, and afterwards the men themselves. For For nine long nights, thro' all the dusky air 75 Conven❜d to council all the Grecian train ; Why leave we not the fatal Trojan fhore, 80 And measure back the feas we croft before? The .74. Thetis' god-like fon Convenes a council.] On the tenth day a council is held to enquire why the Gods were angry? Plutarch obferves, how juftly he applies the characters of his perfons to the incidents; not making Agamemnon but Achiles call this council, who of all the Kings was moft capable of making obfervations upon the plague, and of forefeeing its duration, as having been bred by Chiron to the ftudy of Phyfick. One may mention alfo a remark of Euftathius in purfuance to this, that Juno's advising him in this cafe might allude to his knowledge of an evil temperament in the Aur, of which she was Goddess. .79. Why leave we not the fatal Trojan shore, &c.] The attifice of this speech (according to Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus, in his fecond difcourfe, dei quali ) is admirably carry'd on to open an accufation against Agamemnon, whom Achilles fufpects to be the caufe of all their miferies. He directs himself not to the affembly, but to Agamemnon; he names not only the plague but the war too, as having exhaufted them all, which was evidently due to his family. He leads the Augurs he would confult, by pointing at fomething, lately done with refpect to Apollo. And while he continues within the guard of civil expreffion, scattering his infinuati F ons 85 The plague deftroying whom the fword would fpare, 'Tis time to fave the few remains of war. But let fome Prophet, or fome facred Sage, Or learn the waftful vengeance to remove, By myftic dreams, for dreams defcend from Jove. ons, he encourages thofe who may have more knowledge to fpeak out boldly, by letting them fee there is a party made for their fafety; which has its effect immediately in the following fpeech of Chalcas, whofe demand of protection shews upon whom the offence is to be plac'd. . 86. By mystick dreams.] It does not feem that by the word veron an interpreter of dreams is meant, for we have no hint of any preceding dream which wants to be interpreted. We may therefore more probably refer it to fuch who as'd (after performing proper rites) to lie down at fome facred place, and expect a dream from the Gods upon any par ticular fubject which they defir'd. That this was a practice amongst them, appears from the Temples of Amphiaraus in Baotia, and Podalirius in Apulia, where the enquirer was obliged to fleep at the altar upon the skin of the Beast he had facrific'd, in order to obtain an answer. It is in this manner that Latinus in Virgil's feventh book goes to dream in the Temple of Faunus, where we have a particular defcription of the whole cuftom. Strabo, lib. 16. has fpoken concerning the Temple of Jerufalem as a place of this nature; "where (fays he) the people either dream'd for themfelves, or procur'd fome good dreamer to do it:" By which it fhould feem he had read fomething concerning the vifion of their prophets, as that which Samuel had when he was order'd to fleep a third time before the ark, and upon doing fo had an account of the deftruction of El's houfe; or that which happen'd to Solomon after having facrific'd before the ark at Gibeon. The fame author has alfo mention'd the Temple of Serapts, in his feventeenth book, as a place for receiving oracles by dreams. If broken vows this heavy curse have laid, He faid, and fate: when Chalcas thus reply'd, Thus fpoke the prudence and the fears of age. Belov'd of Jove, Achilles! would'st thou know Why angry Phoebus bends his fatal bow? First give thy faith, and plight a Prince's word 100 Of fure protection, by thy pow'r and fword. For I must speak what wisdom would conceal, And truths, invidious to the Great, reveal. . 97. Belov'd of Jove, Achilles!] These appellations of praise and honour, with which the Heroes in Homer fo frequently falute each other, were agreeable to the style of the ancient times, as appears from several of the like nature in the fcripture. Milton has not been wanting to give his poem this caft of antiquity, throughout which our first parents almost always accoft each other with fome title, that expreffes a respect to the dignity of human nature. Daughter of God and Man, immortal Eve.. - Adam, Earth's hollow'd mould of God infpir'd.- Bold is the task, when fubjects grown too wise, Inftruct a Monarch where his error lies; 105 For tho' we deem the fhort-liv'd fury paft, 'Tis fure, the Mighty will revenge at last. To whom Pelides. From thy inmost foul Speak what thou know'ft, and speak without controúl. Ev'n by that God Ifwear, who rules the day, 110 To whom thy hands the vows of Greece convey, And whose bleft Oracles thy lips declare; Long as Achilles breathes this vital air, No daring Greek of all the num'rous band, Against his Prieft fhall lift an impious hand: 115 Not ev'n the Chief by whom our hofts are led, The King of Kings, fhall touch that facred head. Encourag'd thus, the blameless man replies; Nor vows unpaid, nor flighted facrifice, But .115. Not et'n the Chief] After Achilles had brought in Charcas by his dark.doubts concerning Agamemnon, Chaleas who perceived them, and was unwilling to be the first that nam'd the King, artfully demands a protection in fuch a manner, as confirms thofe doubts, and extorts from Achilles this warm and particular expreffion, "That he would protect him even a gainst Agamemnon, (who, as he fays, is now the greatest man of Greece, to hint that at the expiration of the war he fhould be again reduc'd to be barely King of Mycena.) This place Plutarch takes notice of as the fit in which Achilles hews his contempt of fovereign authority. #. 117. The blameless.] The epithet apúμær, of blame lej's, |